I Dream of Kuropii
by Hikari Kaitou
Summary: Fai's found a magic lamp and decides to use it to make all kinds of trouble. Naturally, it turns out to be all fun and games for the blond, but a rather large hassle for a certain warrior. KxF
1. Plum's Gratitude

**A/N: **Ok, for those of youse guys who don't like so much sap in your fics, here's one with 1/3 less sap. Really, I calculated the exact amount and compared it to my previous story and found that there is, indeed, 1/3 less sap in this one. No, not really. I make stuff up Anyway, that's not to say there won't be some anyway. It's funny; I don't even like sappy stuff except in anime and even then, it has to be the right couple or else I just end up thinking it's stupid... wow, and that has nothing to do with anything. Ummmm... on with the story!

* * *

**Prologue**

**Plum's Gratitude**

Fai's home country was a frigid place; everything was usually covered by ice and snow and the temperature rarely rose above zero. Needless to say that finding himself in a desert country was quite an experience for the wizard and not an overly enjoyable one at that. He could handle heat but this was way more than what he was used to. Within moments of his group entering the country, Fai had already removed his coats, gloves and white suit-jacket-like garment, hoping that he could find more comfort in just his black slacks and thin white undershirt.

Unfortunately for the blond, it wasn't much of an improvement; his lack of protective clothing left his delicate, fair skin exposed to the harsh rays of the sun, causing his shoulders to quickly become sunburned. This sensation was one that Fai had never experienced before though he decided immediately that he didn't care much for it. He was distracted by the totality of his misery while the group entered the heart of the city on whose outskirts they had landed but once they had taken refuge the shade of their temporary lodging, graciously offered by a young boy and his mother who owed Yuuko a favor, the discomfort of the sunburn became much more noticeable.

"Ouchy---!" Fai whined. "That hurts Kuromyu."

"Don't complain to me; it's your own damn fault," Kurogane snapped impatiently as he rubbed lotion on Fai's shoulders (the wizard had managed to convince him that he couldn't reach back there on his own and would need help). "If you'd just kept your goddamn clothes on, this wouldn't have happened."

"But I was hot," the blond pouted. Then he paused as something occurred to him. "Hey Kuropun, did you get sunburn?"

"No," the ninja snorted. "Sunburn is for pansies. I've spent enough time in the sun that I don't burn easily anymore."

"I don't suppose Sakura chan and Syaoran kun will mind this heat much, either," Fai noted, somewhat glumly. "After all, they came from a desert country. It'll be just like home for those two."

"Hmm," Kurogane grunted. Then he screwed the cap back onto the lotion. "There, you're done."

He tossed the bottle to Fai, who caught it happily in one hand. "Hyuu! Thanks, Kurowanko! You're my hero!"

"Shut up," the ninja grumbled, stomping off to find a room that wasn't occupied by Fai.

The wizard watched thoughtfully as Kurogane left, wondering if he had actually seen a slight flush in the warrior's face or if he had only imagined it…?

Dismissing the question, Fai got to his feet and went to the window, resting his elbows on its sill as he looked out at the sandy landscape stretched out before him. He had been gazing absentmindedly for a few moments before a dull gleam caught his eye. Fai squinted, trying to make out what he was seeing but most of the object was buried in the sand as well as being too far away for him to get a good look at it. He got up, his curiosity piqued, and headed for the door with the intention of going to examine the item more closely but paused as he remembered his sunburn. It probably wasn't a very good idea to go back outside with his already tender shoulders exposed… but he only planned on being out there for a second. Surely that couldn't hurt.

Fai turned the knob and pushed open the door, scanning the sandy environment for the glimmer before stepping out into the harsh sunlight again. Once he had it in his sights, he darted forward, snatched the item out of the sand and dashed back into the house so that he could examine it in the safety of the shade.

The wizard turned the strange object in his long, slender fingers, observing it from all angles. What could it be? Fai wondered. It didn't much resemble anything he had seen back home. The closest thing he could think of to compare it to was a teapot… but it would be silly to make a teapot out of brass since metal was especially notorious for becoming very hot when exposed to heat.

Fai squinted at the object's exterior; there seemed to be something written on it but it was too dirty for him to make out… in an attempt to clear away the grime, the blond rubbed at the wording. Suddenly, the bottle began to tremble as though it were full of jumping beans and a thick pink smoke started to pour from its spout. Fai dropped the thing in surprise and jumped to his feet, ready to make a speedy departure if the need should arise. Anxiously the mage waited for the smoke to clear. His stomach churned fearfully; what if he had summoned a dragon or a big mean bear or worse: a Starbucks employee (though the thought of all three scared him, the third possibility actually caused him to shudder involuntarily)?

As the fog began to dissipate, Fai strained his eyes to see what kind of horrifying creature he had brought forth. At first, he didn't see anything and the panic in his stomach began to die down. Then he looked down and saw the dark outline of what appeared to be a very small girl: roughly the size of a football. She had long purple hair which was pulled back into a curled ponytail, large brown eyes, a cheerful face, exotic-looking pink clothing and was holding a tambourine. When she spotted Fai, she called to him and waved energetically to get his attention.

"Hey, Master! Down here!" she shouted.

The tall lanky mage knelt down, trying to get down to her level. Although his fear had vanished, he was still overwhelmed by an immense feeling of surprise and incredulity. After all, it wasn't often that you pulled an old piece of junk out of the sand and found it to contain a small girl. Once Fai was down closer to her, she grinned widely and threw herself at him, hugging him tightly.

"Nice to meet you, new Master!" she said enthusiastically. "Thanks for letting me outta there. It's not very nice in that little tiny lamp. And the sun makes it so hot in there!"

Fai simply continued to stare blankly, unsure what his response should be.

"Oh, I'm Sumomo, by the way!" Sumomo said enthusiastically, extending her hand to shake his. "What is Master's name?"

"Ah, it's Fai," the wizard said, a hesitant smile taking its usual place on his lips. "Fai D. Flowrite."

He shook Sumomo's tiny hand between his thumb and forefinger.

"To show my gratitude for Master letting me out of the bottle, I will grant you three wishes! Anything you want!" the genie beamed.

Fai tilted his head to the side. "Anything?" he asked. Several things had popped into his head at her offer and more than one of them involved a certain hot-tempered ninja. The others mostly contained ice cream. Mmm, ice cream…

Fai snapped out of his reverie in time to notice a disheartened look on Sumomo's face.

"That's what I'd like to say, anyway," she said sadly. "But I'm afraid I'm not a very good genie. I'm still in training, see, so my wish granting skills aren't as amazing as they should be… all I can do is give people magical powers for a few hours."

The small girl hung her head in shame.

"What do you mean by that?" Fai asked, still interested. It may not be quite as good as having any wish granted but the idea of being granted magical powers that he could use without being detected was very appealing as well.

"Well, if you wanted to become a very fast runner, for example, I could give you the power to be the fastest runner in the world… for ten hours. After that, you'd go back to being your old self again."

Sumomo looked up at Fai pleadingly, tears filling her eyes. "I'm sorry for being so inexperienced, Master… but I can make it up to you! Instead of just giving you three wishes, I'll give you five! Just please don't put me back in that bottle!"

The wizard stared at her for a moment, his eyes round with surprise at the disparity in her voice. Then he smiled once more and gently wiped the tears from her face.

"Don't worry, Sumomo chan. I won't make you go back in the bottle. Just do your best; that's enough for me."

A look of immense relief came over the pint-sized genie and she threw her little arms around him once more. "Thank you, Fai sama. You're the best Master I've ever had."

* * *

Kurogane stuck his head curiously into the front room and looked around. He could have sworn he had heard Fai talking to someone just now but the mage seemed to be alone at the moment.

"Oi, magician," the ninja said.

Fai jumped guiltily and looked over his shoulder at Kurogane. Kurogane narrowed his eyes in suspicion as Fai crouched down again, seemingly having a hurried whispered conversation with his own shoe before quickly stuffing something into his pocket.

"Who were you talking to just now?" Kurogane demanded, folding his arms and glaring accusingly at the slim blond.

"Eh? What do you mean, Kurowanko?" Fai asked in an all too innocent tone. "I wasn't talking to anyone. You must be hearing things."

"You really suck at lying, you know that?" Kurogane sighed. "Well, whatever. I don't really give a damn."

Fai watched Kurogane stalk away looking annoyed, and grinned. If only the ninja knew what was in store for him….

* * *

**A/N:** So how was the intro? Good? Sucky? I don't know... Personally, I find it to be very mediocre but I've been told that I'm extremely overcritical of my own work. I know the humor was a bit lacking in this chapter but it will pick up now that I'm passed the prologue. Anyhow, I hope it served to get y'all interested and maybe you'll even come back to see how Fai chooses to use his wishes...maybe? Review wo onegai shimasu!


	2. Never Let Go

**A/N**: Holy crap! This turned out waaaaay longer than I had intended it to be ;

Arrgh, I fail at life. Sorry it took so long, guys. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Never Let Go**

It was a very restless night for Fai. He tossed and turned and kept sitting up to look at the clock every few minutes; it was really very agonizing. His anticipation could only be accurately compared to that which is felt by a seven-year-old child as he waits for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. The blond had every reason to be excited; after all, now that he had Sumomo at his disposal, virtually every possibility in Kurochan-Land was open to him. The prospects of what he could do with his newfound powers sent his mind reeling. If he wanted to become Princess Tomoyo's look-alike, thereby receiving Kurogane's immediate and complete obedience, then poof! it was done. If he decided that he fancied taking the ninja to a deserted tropical island where they would be guaranteed absolute uninterrupted solitude, then poof! there they would be. If Fai's whim happened to include turning Kurogane into a giant ice cream cone so that he could lick him all over, then poof! Japan's most feared ninja would be transformed into a spectacular display of chocolaty-goodness (though Fai was fond of all the ideas he had come up with so far, this one was by far his favorite and sent him into a fit of irrepressible giggles every time he envisioned it).

Although the wizard was tempted to blow all his wishes in one day, he realized that the smart thing to do was to save them, think about each one carefully, making sure he had truly come up with something ingenious, before spending even one. But Fai had always been a hardcore follower of the instant gratification way of life and dismissed that idea almost the second it crossed his mind. Careful planning. Pfft. Right. What good had careful planning ever done anyone? Was there even one example in the history of ever where someone had actually benefited from careful planning?

_Actually, yes_, the annoying little voice of reason said peevishly from the back of his mind. _I can think of a whole butt-load off the top of my head. Would you like to hear them?_ No, Fai told his voice of reason, but kindly do me a favor and shut up, please. That would be just fabulous. _Too bad,_ the voice of reason sneered, _I'll tell you anyway._ Fai stuffed his fingers in his ears and hummed loudly in his head to block out the voice's babbling. La la la la, I'm not listening! he thought loudly.

Then a thought hit him. It was an amazing thought. Sheer brilliance, now that he pondered it some more. He sat up excitedly as his brain began forming a plan as to how he might spend his first wish. Fai twirled a lock of his blond hair around one of his long, slender fingers while his mind raced forward, calculating the possible consequences of such an action. All of them were delicious. In a frenzy of poorly-contained anticipation, the blond burrowed down under his covers, hugging his knees to his chest in an attempt to stifle his own attack of sinister giggles.

Yes, that idea would work beautifully. No doubt it would piss off the ninja to no end. The very thought of Kurogane's horrified reaction caused a shiver of glee to shoot through Fai's body. And best of all, there would be nothing that the warrior could do to free himself from this impending aggravation; as strong as Kurogane was, his strength would be completely useless in the face of Fai's new powers. Feeling deeply satisfied with himself, Fai stretched out once more and closed his eyes. Thank you, he told his voice of reason, you've been an unexpectedly large help. _Fuck you_, it snarled back. I love you too, the wizard thought sleepily as he finally let go of consciousness.

* * *

When Fai next awoke, the sun outside was shining beautifully, its cheerful, innocent disposition acting as a complete paradox to the impending doom that loomed in Kurogane's near future. The blond stretched in a leisurely manner before picking up a pile of clothing that the group's hostess had lent him and heading for the shower. If one were to press their ear against Fai's bedroom door, they would probably hear the wizard attempting to whistle a joyful tune, failing miserably and eventually resorting to humming instead. 

Fai skipped down the stairs, two at a time, and bounded into the kitchen, a smile that even shamed his usual grin spread across his face. Radiating a truly disgustingly-upbeat mood, the mage took a seat at the kitchen table next to the unsuspecting ninja, who was scanning the newspaper with a bored expression.

"Good morning, Kurotan!" Fai sang, pulling a bowl, a box of cereal and the pitcher of milk closer to where he was sitting.

Kurogane looked up from the newspaper at the wizard, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"What's so damn good about it?" he grumbled. "And wipe that stupid grin off your face. It makes me want to hurt you."

"Oh, Kurorin is a little hostile this morning, mm?" Fai giggled. "What's the matter, big puppy? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

With a furious growl and a sinister gleam in his eyes, Kurogane snatched the closest thing he could find (which happened to be a spoon) and hurled it at Fai's head. The blond ducked just in time so that the spoon missed him and got stuck in the wall on the other side of the room. Fai's eyes widened as they took in the damage.

"Hyuu! That was an amazing throw, Kuromuu! It's a good thing you missed me, ne? That would have really hurt."

"That's what I was going for, you stupid bastard!" Kurogane snapped.

"It's ok, daddy," Fai grinned, reaching out and taking the ninja's hand. "I know you didn't mean anything by it."

"Like hell I didn't. And get your damn hands off me, magician!" the warrior snarled, trying to jerk his hand out of Fai's grip. Kurogane blinked. What…? He tried again to jerk his hand away but to no avail. A look of horror coming over his face, he shook his arm violently, trying frantically to free himself. Still, Fai's grip didn't relinquish even in the slightest.

"Bastard! What the hell did you do? Let go of my hand, dammit!" Kurogane demanded fearfully.

"Mmm?" Fai said, feigning an innocent expression of surprise as he looked down at their interlaced fingers. He pulled weakly a few times before flashing the ninja a defeated smile. "I can't get it… We seem to be stuck, Kuropin."

"Oh, hell no!" Kurogane growled, shaking his hand furiously. He kept up this desperate motion for about two minutes until his arm got tired. Gritting his teeth, the warrior glared at Fai, who simply smiled back.

"Guess we're in a pinch, eh?" he said easily.

Kurogane opened his mouth, no doubt to give a harsh reply, but was interrupted by Sakura entering the room.

"Good morning Fai san, Kurogane san," she said brightly as she joined them at the table.

His face turning beet-red, the ninja quickly hid his and Fai's joined hands under the table so that Sakura wouldn't see. But the young princess didn't seem to notice the extreme tension in the air and simply poured herself a bowl of cereal.

"Did you both sleep well?" she asked cheerfully, tilting her head to the side.

"Of course, Sakura chan!" Fai lied. "And how about you?"

"Yes, I slept wonderfully!" Sakura replied. "Do you know if Syaoran kun is up yet? I was hoping we could go into town and see what information we could find on my feather…"

She trailed off as her eyes fell on Kurogane, who was shoveling cereal in his mouth at top speed in a pathetic attempt to pretend that everything was alright though his face was still burning brightly.

"Erm… Kurogane san?" Sakura said timidly. "Are…are you alright?"

"Yes!" he snapped through a mouthful of cereal. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Ah… It's just that… your face is awfully red," the princess stammered, frightened by the ninja's outburst at her simple question. "You don't… have a fever, do you?"

"No! It's fine! I'm fine! Everything's fine! Quit asking so many damn questions!"

"I'm…I'm sorry!" she squeaked, bending down over her cereal bowl so as not to provoke the ninja further.

"Now, now Kurochu," Fai scolded, though he was still grinning widely. "That's no way to talk to Sakura chan. She was just trying to make sure you were ok."

"Well, tell her to mind her own damn business and then I won't have to talk to her like that!" Kurogane replied hotly. Mentally, he was kicking himself. _Way to go, you tart_, his brain said. _So much for not drawing attention to yourself._ Luckily for the flustered warrior, Syaoran and Mokona entered the kitchen at that moment, breaking the awkward silence.

As soon as the younger boy sat down, Kurogane got up, jerking Fai to his feet as well. He hurriedly hid their joined hands behind his back, knocking over his chair in his desperation to keep them out of sight.

Syaoran and Sakura stared nervously at their older companions, wondering what exactly was going on, though they were afraid to say anything.

"Hey kid," Kurogane said loudly in an attempt to dispel some of the tension. "Where's your sword? I need it."

"It… it's in my room," Syaoran answered quickly. "But why…?"

"Don't ask about things that aren't any of your business!" the warrior snarled, stomping out of the kitchen and dragging Fai with him.

* * *

"Kuromyu, you were awfully rude to Syaoran kun and Sakura chan," Fai pointed out. "Why didn't you just tell them what had happened?" 

"Because, you dumb ass, they wouldn't have believed us! There isn't any magic in this world and they know you've refused to use yours! What if they thought we were doing this because we wanted to? They already suspect that there's something going on between us!" Kurogane blushed again, though he was trying desperately to control the color in his cheeks. "And that's entirely your fault, you bastard!"

Fai giggled as he slid his arms around the ninja's waist. "Well, if there isn't anything going on between us, then why are you getting so embarrassed? And you're talking a bit loud for someone who wants to keep this whole ordeal a secret."

Kurogane opened and closed his mouth several times like a fish out of water as he tried to think of a snappy reply but words were failing him. Eventually, he just spun around and stomped up the stairs towards Syaoran's room to fetch the sword, dragging Fai along behind him. The blond watched curiously as the ninja unsheathed the sword with a determined expression on his face.

"What are you planning to use that for, Kuropun?" he asked lightly.

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna use it for: I'm gonna cut our hands apart!" Kurogane hissed.

Fai stopped him by grabbing the hilt of the weapon.

"Do you really think that's the best course of action? I mean, if you were to injure your hand, I imagine your fighting skills would never be quite the same," he pointed out, though he sounded completely unconcerned with his dilemma.

Kurogane ground his teeth in frustration, feeling very annoyed with himself. Of course Fai was right. But he certainly couldn't just leave their hands stuck together like this… He sighed heavily as he put the sword back in its scabbard.

"Alright," he said in a voice that shook with suppressed rage, "what do you suggest, then?"

"Kurotan is asking my opinion?" Fai asked cheerfully, tilting his head to the side in a manner that made him look absolutely adorable.

"Don't rub it in, mage!" Kurogane snapped. "Just tell me what you think we should do!"

"Well, personally…" the wizard said slowly, a mischievous grin playing across his lips, "I say we just leave it. If it's a spell that's causing this to happen, it won't last forever. Besides… it's an excellent excuse for me to hold Kurorin's hand!"

"Bastard!" he snarled, swinging the still-covered covered sword right at the wizard's face. "This isn't funny, dammit! Quit screwing around!"

"Mmm, screwing around…?" Fai said thoughtfully. "Not a bad idea…"

The blond laughed, bending backwards to miss the sword that the ninja swung at him once more. This was turning out just as great as he had imagined it.

"Psst! Hey! Manjuu!" Kurogane hissed, peeking cautiously into the kitchen where the two younger travelers and their small white guide were busily plotting out the route they would take when they went to search for information.

Mokona's ear twitched and he turned around, looking for the one who had called his name. "Hmm? Is someone looking for Mokona?"

"Shhh! Keep it down!" the ninja spat, waving his hand frantically. "Just get your little white ass over here!"

The rodent hopped down off the counter and bounced over to where the wizard and swordsman were waiting for him.

"Did Kurogane kun want something?" Mokona asked with a smirk.

Kurogane grabbed the white creature by the ears, being careful to squeeze them as hard as he could in the process. "Keep your mouth shut, manjuu!" he growled as he stuffed Mokona into his shirt pocket and made his way quickly to a room where they could talk without being overheard.

Once the door was securely shut behind them, the ninja jerked the white thing out of his pocket and dropped him on the ground.

"Ouchy! Fai-kaasan! Kurogane-tousan is being meeeean!" he whined.

"Kuronro, be a little more careful with Mokona," Fai implored. "He _is_ doing us a favor, after all."

"You! Manjuu! We need you to call the dimensional bitch!" Kurogane ordered impatiently.

"Why?" Mokona asked.

The ninja's face turned bright red again. "None of your damn business! Just do it!"

The rodent ignored this demand and instead turned to Fai, waiting expectantly to be filled in on the situation. The blond smiled as he swung his and Kurogane's joined hands into the air for Mokona to see.

"We seem to be stuck like this," he trilled. "Kurochi was hoping Yuuko san could help us out of this situation."

"Oh, how cute!" Mokona sang, clasping his paws. "Kurogane and Fai are holding hands! It's love-loooove!"

"Shut the hell up!" Kurogane shouted, stomping his foot, his cheeks blazing. "Call the witch already!"

Still sniggering to himself, Mokona turned to face the wall so that the others could see the projection as they spoke to Yuuko. For a moment, the projection was dark and empty but then it became light and the witch's pale face with smug, gleaming eyes filled the screen.

"Ah, Mokona. What a pleasant surprise!" she sang, folding her hands under her chin and leaning forward eagerly on the table she was seated at. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"Fai and Kurogane would like to ask you something," Mokona said, grinning in anticipation of the explanation that Kurogane would offer about the call.

Yuuko turned her attention to the wizard and ninja, an expectant smile on her lips. Kurogane hated it when she wore that smile; it made her look as though she was plotting something or that she knew way more than she should. The warrior glared at Fai, waiting for him to jump in with the preamble as he usually did. Fai simply continued to grin as widely and vacantly as ever, acting clueless so as to force Kurogane to explain their predicament.

Realizing that the mage was not going to be of any help whatsoever, Kurogane threw Syaoran's sword at the ground as hard as he could with a snarl of frustration, making sure that it was clear to everyone that he most certainly was _not_ enjoying himself. His teeth gritted in resignation, he held up his and Fai's stubbornly joined hands.

"Can you fix this?" he growled without bothering to justify the situation. As far as he was concerned, it didn't matter _how _they had gotten that way just as long as the process could be reversed.

Yuuko blinked several times as her eyes focused on the source of her clients' problem. She moved her fist in front of her mouth as she tried to figure out what exactly it was that they were attempting to show her. Then she shook her head, frowning slightly.

"I'm afraid you've lost me," she said. "What seems to be the problem?"

"We're stuck like this, dumb ass!" he snapped, shaking his arm as hard as he could to illustrate his point. "You've gotta help un-stick us!"

The dimensional witch raised an eyebrow and slid her gaze over to Fai, who was still just standing there, a patient smile upon his face. It was a well-known fact to those who knew it well that whatever the rest of Fai's face was saying, you could almost always look to his eyes to be told what he was really thinking. Sometimes, this was a hassle for the blond but other times, it proved quite useful. At the moment, Fai was grateful for the fact that his eyes could relay messages almost more reliably than his voice could and he was using them to implore Yuuko to ignore the swordsman's request. The dimensional witch, despite all her qualities that drove other people crazy, could never be accused of ignorance and therefore noticed Fai's plea. She gave him a small smile and a slight nod to show that she understood him.

Yuuko turned her smug eyes over to the ninja once more.

"No can do," she said lightly.

Kurogane's head jerked upwards in shock. "WHAT?"

"Normally it would be no problem, but under the circumstances…" She trailed off.

"WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES?" he shouted, stamping his foot like a spoiled child. "SCREW CIRCUMSTANCES! JUST UNDO THE GODDAMN SPELL! IF YOU CAN SEND US ALL AROUND THE DAMN UNIVERSE, YOU CAN SURE AS HELL BREAK THIS LITTLE CURSE!"

"My, my, we _are_ feisty, aren't we?" Yuuko laughed. "But I'm afraid that no amount of yelling and stomping can change my answer. No matter how simple a spell is required, I still can't reverse the effects of someone else's wish."

Kurogane narrowed his eyes at her. "'The effects of someone else's wish…?' What the hell do you mean by…?"

"I'm sorry that I'm not able to help you but I'm rather busy at the moment. So, Kurogane san, Fai san, Mokona… I bid you farewell."

Yuuko stood up, turned on her heel and vanished from the screen with a swish of her long black hair.

The ninja stared absentmindedly at the spot where the projection had been, his mind racing. According to the witch, the reason that he and Fai were stuck like this was because someone had wished it to be so. Of course, his immediate thought was that this was Fai's doing. After all, who would want their hands to be stuck together, aside from that slippery magician? But when Kurogane had showed her their conjoined hands, she had seemed genuinely confused. That most likely meant that this wasn't the result of a request made by Fai of Yuuko. Then again, maybe she, like Fai, was simply a very good actor and was in fact behind this mischief 100 percent.

The ninja moved his searing glare onto Mokona.

"Oi, Manjuu," he grunted, "when was the last time you talked to that witch, aside from just now?"

"Umm… Mokona hasn't talked to Yuuko in a long time," Mokona said. "Mokona doesn't remember exactly…"

Kurogane sighed and ran a hand backwards through his spiky raven hair before turning his suspicious gaze on Fai once more. He didn't know how he had done it but he was almost positive that the mage was the one behind this.

* * *

"Kurogane san! Fai san!" Sakura called from the bottom of the stairs. "Dinner is ready!" 

Once the girl heard her traveling companions' reply, she went back to the kitchen and began helping Syaoran dish a portion of noodles into a bowl for each person.

"I hope Fai san won't have too much difficulty with the chopsticks," Sakura commented as she set some at his spot. "But I couldn't find any forks in the house…"

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Syaoran replied. "I think he's starting to get the hang of them since Kurogane san taught him to use them in the last country we visited."

"Kurogane san and Fai san sure have been acting strange today, haven't they?" the princess pointed out with a small frown. "They've been upstairs by themselves all day long… I wonder what they're up to…"

"You're right," Syaoran agreed. "I haven't seen them since breakfast this morning. Kurogane san _did_ ask to borrow my sword… I wonder if he's teaching Fai san how to use one?"

The younger travelers ended their musings as Kurogane and Fai entered the room together, Fai looking almost unnaturally cheerful, his cheeks brilliantly pink, his blond hair looking even messier than usual while Kurogane looked both deeply annoyed and deeply disturbed, his appearance much the same as Fai's with the exception that a vein was throbbing angrily on his forehead.

Syaoran and Sakura couldn't help but stare as their older friends simultaneously sat down in perfect silence and picked up their chopsticks in unison. Kurogane began eating, his glare nearly burning a hole in the wall over Syaoran's shoulder. Fai attempted to start eating his noodles as well but as usual, he was having a rather hard time with his chopsticks. Syaoran and Sakura quickly slurped down their noodles and left the room, not noticing the blond's predicament in their hurry to escape the tension-filled atmosphere of the kitchen.

"Nngh! Kurochan" Fai whined after a moment, "I can't pick up anything with these chopsticks"

"Too damn bad! I taught you how to use them in the last country! If you can't remember then it's your loss!" Kurogane grumbled as he slurped down his last noodle.

"I remember how but I have to use my left hand because my right one is stuck," the blond explained. "I'm no good at using my left hand for things like this…"

Kurogane watched as Fai tried again in vain to pick up some of his noodles. The mage let out a frustrated moan as he dropped them for the thousandth time in a row.

The ninja let a slow breath out through his clenched teeth before snatching Fai's chopsticks out of his hand, picking up some noodles and holding them up for the wizard.

Fai looked at Kurogane, his eyes wide with astonishment. "Kurorin?"

"Are you going to eat or what?" the warrior asked shortly.

Cautiously, Fai leaned forward and relieved the chopsticks of their burden, his crystal-blue eyes studying Kurogane all the while. The swordsman carefully avoided making eye-contact with him, blushing slightly as he picked up more noodles and allowed Fai to eat them off again. As soon as Fai had finished off the last bit of pasta, his usual smile returned to his lips and he giggled.

"How cute! Kurowanko cares about me!"

"Dammit! I do not!" Kurogane insisted angrily. "I just didn't want to listen to you whine all night that you were hungry; that's all!"

"Ah, I see," the blond nodded. "Well, whatever your reason was…I appreciate it."

"Hmph!" Kurogane said before turning on his heel and stalking out of the kitchen, dragging Fai behind him.

* * *

Syaoran came out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel. He sighed with contentment; it felt nice, taking a bath after a long day in the heat. The boy started when angry shouts and mad giggling erupted from the room down the hall. Syaoran clutched at his thumping heart, realizing that it was just one of Kurogane and Fai's routine fights. He made his way to the loud room at the end of the room and poked his head in. 

"Kurogane san, Fai san, the bath is free now if either of you wants to take one."

He blinked at the scene before him; Kurogane had his sword drawn and had obviously been chasing the slim blond but had frozen mid-stride when Syaoran had suddenly walked in. Fai was standing a few feet ahead, trying to catch his breath while the ninja was distracted. The sight wouldn't have been so unusual if not for the fact that the two of them were holding hands.

Once the initial shock of Syaoran's intrusion had worn off, Kurogane's face burned brightly and he quickly jerked the wizard closer so that he could hide their joined hands behind his back.

"R-right," he replied stiffly, not looking at the younger boy.

"We'll be in in just a moment," Fai trilled.

Syaoran broke into a cold sweat. "W-w-we?" he repeated nervously, praying with every particle of his being that he had misheard his fellow traveler.

"He means himself, of course," Kurogane cut in hurriedly to cover up Fai's mistake. "_He'll _be in in just a moment."

"Whoops," the wizard said lightly, "yes, that's what I meant."

Syaoran stared at the two of them for a moment longer before quickly departing from the room. It was clear to him that something weird was going on but he didn't want any part of it.

As soon as the boy was gone, Kurogane and Fai looked at each other.

"Now what?" the ninja muttered.

"What do you mean?" Fai asked, smiling and tilting his head to one side.

"We can't take a bath like this!" he hissed, gesturing at their interlaced fingers.

"I don't see why not," the blond giggled. "I can help you wash your back, Kurotan!"

"Quit screwing around bastard!" Kurogane snarled, color rising in his face. "This isn't some damn game!"

The dark-haired man then sighed wearily. "I guess we could skip it for tonight…"

"Aww, but it was so hot out today," Fai said. "A nice cool bath would feel so good right now…"

The mage was right, of course. After spending the day in the blazing heat of the desert country, a bath would be absolutely heavenly. Heaving another sigh of frustration, Kurogane got to his feet, jerking Fai up with him.

"Mmm? Kurorin?"

"Fine. Whatever. I don't care. Let's just go."

"What? You…you mean…" Fai's eyes lit up with excitement, "I get to take a bath with Kuropun!"

"Shut up, dumb ass! You want the brats to hear you?" the ninja snapped, blushing furiously at the thought of taking a bath with the wizard. "Just come on and keep your damn mouth shut!"

The two of them had only taken one step when a slight popping sound made them stop in their tracks and look curiously at each other.

"What was that?" Fai asked. "Did you hear it, Kuronyan?"

"Yeah…" Kurogane replied, scanning the room cautiously. His hands balled themselves into fists, preparing to take action if the need should arise. "It sounded close by."

Then the swordsman blinked and looked down at his hands. Both of them were curled into fists. Both of them were free.

"Hey…" he said slowly. "The spell wore off!"

"Ahh, so it did," Fai nodded. Then he put on a pouty face. "Waai, talk about bad timing, huh, Kuromyu?"

"Hell no! This is perfect timing!" Kurogane disagreed. He pushed Fai down on the couch and sprinted to the bathroom to occupy the bath before the blond could try to join him, locking the door with a loud click.

Fai listened to the bath water running in silence. It had been a good day and Sumomo had done a fine job of keeping her word about his wish lasting ten hours. The mage sighed and leaned back into the couch cushions. Although Sumomo had kept her word, he was a little disappointed. If only his powers had lasted just five minutes longer…

**A/N: **Hmm… again, I am feeling plagued with uncertainty... Argh! And stupid eats puntuation! You fail Anyway...tell me what you thought, nyaa?


	3. Find Me if You Can

**A/N: **Holy…freaking…crap… I had an absolute BITCH of a time writing this chapter for some reason. Seriously, I was counting; I started over/rewrote large portions 32 times. 32 times! Who freaking does that!

So I pretty much don't wanna hear any of that "third try's a charm" bullshit. "Third try's a charm", my ass. More like the "3rd time cubed is a charm."

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Find Me if You Can**

All invisible things, regardless of their size, shape, nature or occupation, fall into one of three categories. People tend to discredit invisible things. After all, what good is something that can not be experienced with one's own two eyes? But some of the best things in life are things that cannot be seen; love, laughter, hope… They are things that can be sensed, tasted, heard, though undetectable to the eye.

Then there are those things that are slightly more tangible, large and gaudy and extremely obvious. Yet still, it is possible for them to be overlooked if one is careless, even if they are staring you right in the face.

The final category is for things that are perfectly tangible, perfectly real, and often extremely annoying. In this case, the thing in question is tall, thin and blond but completely impossible to see, even if you know it is there. Few people have the pleasure of encountering things that fall into the third category, although there are many who would like to have such an opportunity. But life has a cruel, twisted sense of humor and seems to enjoy giving glorious things to those who have absolutely no desire for them. Such spoils rarely seem to be awarded to those who crave them so desperately. Then again, some people don't even know how badly they want something until it is presented to them.

* * *

The idea for how to spend his second wish hit Fai while he was absentmindedly scanning the bookshelves that lined the walls of his bedroom. The books were old and dusty and though some of them are so terribly boring that they could put a politician to sleep, there were a few classic stories peppered throughout to collection. There was one book in particular that caught Fai's attention, however; it was called "The Invisible Man". At first, the mage's eyes had glossed right over it, disinterested. Then he felt his heart skip a beat and immediately did a double-take.

The Invisible Man. Hmm…The Invisible man…yes, no doubt about it: that was just the sort of thing he had been trying to come up with. It was perfect. He could just imagine the effect it might have on the ninja. It would make Kurogane curl up on the floor in the fetal position and cry in frustration for his mommy. It would make him so completely annoyed that he would be wishing that he had just submitted to Fai's will in the first place and thereby spared himself the agony of Fai's antics. Or it would make him extremely horny. Yeah, Fai thought with a grin, I'd take that.

"Sumomo chaaaan," the wizard sang, "I've got iiiiit!"

"Master has thought of a way to have fun with his scary friend?" Sumomo asked eagerly.

"Yeah," he replied dreamily.

But then he paused as a new thought occurred to him. Last time he had made a wish his power had run out at a very inopportune moment. He mustn't let that happen again. The solution was to wait until just the right time to make his wish. Fai glanced at the clock. It was currently eight-thirty AM which meant that if he were to make his wish right now, his power would wear off that night at eight-thirty. He shook his head slightly; experience told him that the best things often happened at night. Heh heh. Yeah, it was definitely worth the wait.

"I'm gonna wait until a little later to make the wish though, I think, Sumomo chan," Fai said.

"Wait?" Sumomo repeated. "Wait for what?"

"I have to wait for just the right time," he answered. "It's all about timing."

* * *

Fai bounded down the stairs, and to his utter delight, found his favorite short-tempered ninja sitting in the living room, reading this world's copy of Maganyan. When he heard Fai enter the room, he immediately looked up and, upon recognizing his visitor, made a face that suggested that he had suddenly been overcome by the desire to vomit.

"Oh, it's _you_," Kurogane muttered bitterly, turning his attention back to the magazine.

"What's wrong Kuropin?" Fai asked cheerfully, causing the couch to bounce slightly as he dropped down on it next to Kurogane. "You were expecting, perhaps, the tooth fairy? If so, I'm sorry to disappoint you."

Kurogane snorted. "_Tooth_ fairy? What the hell are you talking about, magician?"

"Ah, I forgot that Kurorin's world doesn't have a tooth fairy," Fai mused. Then he grabbed Kurogane's arm, hugging and resting his cheek on it. "Poor, deprived Kurochan. She's great. You would have liked her, I think."

Kurogane growled and made to jerk his arm out of Fai's grip of steel. "Don't cling to me!"

"Mm, I nearly forgot to ask you…" the blond began, ignoring his companion's orders as usual, "did you hear anything strange last night."

"Strange? Like what?"

"I don't know…it was kind of a creaking sound…like there was someone in my room," Fai said slowly. Then he looked up at Kurogane, his eyes glittering with excitement. "Did you come to visit me in the middle of the night Kurotan?"

Kurogane's face turned red. "N-no! Why the hell would I do that!"

"You should have said something," he giggled. "There was plenty of room in my bed for _you._"

"Shut up! Bastard!"

"But then, maybe Kurowanko lost his nerve and decided he just couldn't do it," Fai suggested amusedly. "I forgot that you were Mr. Easily Embarrassed."

Kurogane gritted his teeth and was about to remind Fai that he was also Mr. Tends To Get Very Violent When Pissed Off but Fai cut him off by starting to talk again.

"So it really wasn't you, then? Hmm… maybe this house is haunted after all…"

"What do you mean 'after all'? Did someone tell you it was haunted?"

Fai's expression became one of mild concern. "Mokona said he heard the same noise in Sakura chan's room two nights ago and Syaoran kun told me that he was looking for his shoes but they were missing, like someone had taken them…"

Although he was extraordinarily pissed off at the moment, he couldn't contain a derisive snort of amusement at the comment about Syaoran's shoes being taken.

"You're full of it," Kurogane said. "Even if this house _were_ haunted, who the hell would waste their time moving the brat's shoes?"

Fai shrugged nonchalantly. "A poltergeist with a shoe fetish, perhaps?"

"Excuse me if I don't scream in terror," the ninja said dryly.

"I wouldn't make fun of it if I were you," he suggested seriously as he got up and began to head towards the kitchen to get some food. "After all, just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they aren't there."

Then Fai winked, blew Kurogane a kiss and disappeared around the corner.

As much as he hated to admit it, Kurogane was feeling a bit unnerved now. That little wink Fai had just done had been much too sexy to be meaningless. Then he blinked. Had he just thought of something Fai had done as being "sexy"? Kurogane blushed and shook his head furiously. It was a slip. That was all. He had meant to think… "scary". Yeah, that's what he had meant. "Scary". Heh.

Trying to force the memory of his unconscious slip-up out of his mind and the red flush out of his face, he got up and followed Fai into the kitchen.

* * *

At about five minutes to one, Fai disappeared off to his room to meet Sumomo. The time for him to make his wish was almost here and he didn't want to wait a single second longer than necessary. He was so excited that he took the stairs two at a time and once he was in his room, bounced restlessly on the balls of his feet.

"Sumomo chaaaan!" he called. "I'm readyyyy!"

"Okey dokey, Master!" Sumomo trilled, dropping down from the light fixture to land on Fai's shoulder. "What is Master's wish?"

Fai took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I wish…"

* * *

A shiver of anxiousness shot through Kurogane's body, causing him to jump to his feet and check his surroundings closely to make sure that he wasn't being watched. He found nothing immediately suspicious but something was definitely afoot. A newly formed sensor in his brain was going haywire—it was his "Fai-der senses". This may have been considered a calming revelation for some people; to find that whatever suspicious activity they had been sensing was just another one of Fai's harmless pranks. Kurogane was not one of those people. If Fai was up to something, it was sure to mean hell for the ninja.

Remaining highly alert, Kurogane drew his sword slowly and backed into a corner. His rationale was that if his back was against a wall, at least the blond wouldn't be able to sneak up on him. Boy, was he wrong.

* * *

Syaoran and Sakura pushed open the front door with difficulty, carrying arm loads of grocery bags and Sakura transporting Mokona on her head.

"It sure is quiet in here," Sakura commented. "Where do you suppose Kurogane san and Fai san could be?"

Syaoran was just about to say that he didn't know when there was a faint whistling sound and a glimmer of light hitting highly polished metal right in front of him. The next thing he knew, a two-and-a-half-foot-long blade swished through the air about half an inch in front of his face.

"WAAH!" he yelped, stumbling backwards in surprise.

Luckily, Mokona was able to jump down from Sakura's head and apply his secret technique of reverse super suction power to blow Syaoran back on his feet before he dropped the bags he was carrying.

"K-Kurogane san," he stammered. "Wh-what are you doing?"

Kurogane blinked before slowly lowering his sword and straightening up from his attack stance. "Oh, it's just you. I thought….forget it."

Syaoran leaned against the wall, breathing hard, his legs suddenly weak at the thought of the fate that had nearly befallen him. Sakura looked apprehensively between the two of them before putting on a hesitant smile.

"As long as you're here, Kurogane san, would you mind helping us put away these groceries?"

Kurogane heaved a sigh before snatching a few of the bags impatiently from each of them. "Tch! What a pain…" he grumbled as he stalked into the kitchen.

Syaoran and Sakura exchanged nervous glances before quickly following him, setting their armloads down on the table.

Kurogane began taking things out of the first bag with a slightly skeptical look on his face. There were the usual items: rice, flour, sugar, eggs, WD-40 (Syaoran and Sakura had both been hesitant about buying this item but Mokona had insisted that it would be useful though he refused to disclose what his plans for it were). Then, he pulled out…

"What the hell?"

Kurogane squinted at the strange writing that adorned the box in his hand though this made it no less discernible to him. He looked at Sakura, holding up the box, one eyebrow raised quizzically.

Sakura giggled nervously, turning a bit pink under the ninja's scrutiny. "Ah, Mokona told us they were good… I thought Fai san might enjoy them…"

"They're Twinkies!" Mokona chirped.

Kurogane snorted. "'Twinkee'? What the fuck is that? Sounds like something a pansy would eat. I guess they fit that magician perfectly, then…"

Shaking his head in disgust, Kurogane set them down on the table, refusing to hold the sissy cake-things any longer. Imagine what Tomoyo hime's other ninjas would say if they saw those abominations in his possession. The thought made him shudder and he quickly went back to putting away the other items, trying to push the horrible vision out of his head.

Kurogane had hurried through the rest of the grocery sorting, keeping his eyes wide open for signs of anything out of the ordinary. The whole time, he couldn't shake the sneaking suspicion that Fai was up to no good although he didn't seem to be anywhere around. There was no way he was just going to sit back and wait for the mage's torture to befall him. He would have to do something about it.

* * *

It is a well-known fact to those who know it well that part of being a good ninja is having the ability to anticipate your enemy's moves before he makes them and to then quickly construct a plan to counter the attack. Kurogane, being Japan's most infamous ninja, was of course well-versed in this skill. Unfortunately, there was one little problem; one that defied all rhyme, reason and laws of physics. The problem in question was tall, thin, and blond and went by the name of Fai.

Part of being Fai was having the ability to anticipate that your moves have been anticipated, to figure out the opponent's retaliation and to revamp your own plan to foil the counterattack, thereby managing to drive the aforementioned ninja completely insane. Basically, the last two paragraphs were simply a more complicated way of saying that although Kurogane thought he was being pretty damn smart by barricading himself in his room in order to avoid the hell that Fai had in store for him, the magician was already two steps ahead of him and had his defense in place.

Fai had guessed that Kurogane might sense that he was up to something and lock himself in his room to avoid becoming the target of his prank. Unfortunately for Kurogane, once Fai saw something he wanted, he would stop at nothing until it was in his possession. In this case, the object of his desire was the warrior himself and no amount of doors, locks, walls, crocodile-filled moats, boiling pits of lava or uncreatively named Laundromats would stand in his way.

To counter Kurogane's defense, Fai had gone through the trouble of blocking the vents in Kurogane's room, thereby preventing it from getting the air conditioning that was received by the rest of the house. No matter how tough the ninja thought he was, there was no way he could withstand the country's intense desert heat for very long, especially since he always insisted on wearing a black t-shirt. Sooner or later, he would have to either come out of his room or open his window to let in some air. Which ever one he chose would make him vulnerable and Fai would be ready and waiting.

* * *

Fai had to hand it to him; Kurogane was able to stand the heat for much longer than he has estimated. Already it had been forty-five minutes since Kurogane had taken refuge in his room and he had yet to hear any signs of him cracking and opening a door or window. Both the door and the window were being carefully watched, of course; Fai had assigned Mokona to guard the door and Sumomo to guard the window. They had promised to let him know when a path of entry opened up but so far, they had reported no movement from Kurogane's room.

Fai glanced at the clock and bit his lip. It was almost two o'clock and he still hadn't had lunch yet. He had been able to hold up this long with no problem but now he was really starting to get hungry. The wizard glanced out the window again and Sumomo shook her head. Surely… surely there was time for him to run downstairs and grab something to eat while he was waiting… He shifted from foot to foot, trying to decide whether to give in to his hunger or his determination to torment Kurogane. In the end, his hunger won. After all, he would only be a second.

He dashed downstairs and poked his head into the kitchen to find that it was, thankfully, empty. Normally, Fai wouldn't have minded running into one of his younger traveling companions but they would certainly try to make conversation with him which would essentially slow him down. There was no time for idle chit-chat right now; this was strictly a retrieval mission. He started towards one of the cabinets but stopped when a small, brightly-colored cardboard box that was sitting on the table caught his attention. Fai approached it curiously. The print on the box was foreign to him but the photo depicted something that he would recognize in any country: cake.

Taking one more look around to be sure that the coast was clear, Fai quickly ripped open the box and grabbed two of the sweets before dashing back upstairs.

When Fai got back to his room, it was to find Sumomo's face pressed up against the glass, her eyes franticly scanning the place for Fai. Spotting him, she tapped on the window to get his attention and gestured wildly in the direction of Kurogane's room. Fai nodded to show his comprehension, quickly finished off his first Twinkie and heaved himself out of his own window. He crawled carefully across the roof and stopped outside Kurogane's slightly open window to activate his invisibility and unwrap his second Twinkie.

* * *

Sweat dripped down the back of his neck and ran along his spine before being absorbed by his already-saturated black t-shirt. Kurogane gritted his teeth, refusing to give into the heat. He had always prided himself on being able to withstand harsh conditions but even he had to admit that he was reaching the end of his rope. It was just too long to be spending so long in this kind of intense heat. Sooner or later, he would have to take a chance and open his window a bit. The choices were between that and suffocation/heatstroke. No cookies for the one who guesses which one of those options he picked.

* * *

If you have a key in your possession and you come across a locked door, the obvious reaction would be to stick the key in the lock. It is a natural response that comes with or without the brain's consent. The same is true with coin slots; when you come across them, usually you are struck by at least some level of desire to dump some change in, no matter how useless the cause. It is simply an involuntary human reflex: you see a hole, you stick something in it. So it was perfectly understandable that when Fai dropped from the windowsill into Kurogane's room and saw the ninja's mouth open slightly in surprise at the noise, he did the first thing he could think of. He took his half-eaten Twinkie and pushed it into Kurogane's mouth.

The reaction he received was both instantaneous and highly satisfying. Kurogane's face paled slightly in surprise as he tasted the sweet thing in his mouth. He choked it down with difficulty and then jumped to his feet, a furious gleam in his eyes and began making blind swipes at the air in front of him for the one who dared to pull such a stunt. Fai jumped backwards out of the way, trying hard not to laugh as he looped around behind Kurogane to avoid his wrath.

"Show yourself, bastard!" Kurogane snarled, whipping out his sword. "I know you're there! Quit hiding like some damn sissy and face me!"

_No…_ thought Fai as he snatched a pillow from the ninja's bed, _I don't think I will, actually…_

Kurogane was still hunting for the intruder and Fai could tell that he was attempting to feel out his aura by the way he closed his eyes in concentration and held perfectly still. Luckily, Fai had thought of that particular ability of his and had made sure to tell Sumomo to make his aura invisible as well.

While Kurogane's eyes were closed, Fai tiptoed up to him and whacked him over the head with the pillow he had borrowed. The swordsman jumped in surprise, his eyes opening immediately, and his hands balling themselves into fists of fury.

"DAMMIT! THAT WAS A CHEAP SHOT!" he shouted angrily, rubbing his head. "QUIT SCREWING AROUND AND SHOW YOURSELF, YOU DAMN CHEATER!"

Fai had to clap a hand over his own mouth to keep from giggling joyfully at his antics as he ran past the bookshelf, knocking down a few random volumes. Kurogane stared intently in the direction of the noise but was then distracted again when Fai sprinted past the closet door, running his hand along it as he went so that it rattled. The ninja whipped around to look at the closet just as Fai hopped up on his bed and did a few little hops so that the mattress bounced and creaked.

His plan was working; he could see Kurogane getting seriously weirded out and nervous. The blond sat down in the far corner to catch his breath and watched as the other looked wildly around for the place where the imaginary poltergeist would strike next. He smiled joyfully to himself; he had always thought that Kurogane looked extra cute when he was confused. Right now, he was totally perplexed so Fai was having something of a field day.

A sudden breeze coming through the window caused some paper on the bedside table to ruffle and catch the mage's eye. This brought a new idea to his conniving mind. He bounded over to the notepad, snatched up a pen and began scribbling his message. Once he finished it, he folded the paper in half and waved the finished product tantalizingly in front of Kurogane's face. The ninja blinked and looked a bit hesitant to take the note but after a moment he accepted it, unfolding the paper so that he could read it.

_You can scream in terror now, sexy. _

_-much love and kisses and caresses and snuggles and other mushy things,_

_The Poltergeist with the Shoe Fetish_

Such was the level of Kurogane's puzzlement that Fai could almost see the "!" forming above his head. With great difficulty, Fai bit back a squeal of delight that could have put even the most obsessed fangirl to shame.

…So…adorable…!

Kurogane stomped down the hallway to Fai's room and kicked the door open as hard as he could. Fai looked up calmly from the book he was pretending to read and smiled cheerfully at his visitor. Kurogane was not amused; his face was bright red and his whole body quivered with rage.

"Oh, Kuronyan," Fai said in a falsely innocent voice, "how nice of you to visit me! Is there something you wanted?"

Kurogane's breath was harsh and ragged from the effort it was taking him not to launch himself at Fai and strangle that scrawny blond to death.

"QUIT ACTING SO DAMN INNOCENT, YOU FUCKING MAGICIAN! I KNOW YOU'RE BEHIND THIS SO JUST ADMIT IT SO THAT I CAN KILL YOU!"

Fai closed his book before turning back to Kurogane, his expression one of polite puzzlement.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, Kurochan. I've been in here reading this whole time."

"LIKE HELL YOU WERE!" he spat. "THERE'S NO WAY I'M FALLING FOR THAT LOAD OF BULLSHIT!"

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Syaoran kun or Sakura chan. They're downstairs, I think."

If it were possible for smoke to pour out of someone's ears, the room would have been so full of it that Fai wouldn't have been able to see his own hand in front of his face. Realizing that Kurogane was a hair's breadth away from an explosion, Fai arranged his face into an expression of shock, looking somewhere over the warrior's shoulder.

"Ah!"

When Kurogane turned to see what Fai was so surprised about, the wizard switched on his invisibility. Seeing that he had just been messed with, Kurogane spun back around to face Fai once more, grinding his teeth furiously. But then, it's awfully hard to look at someone who isn't even there.

"AAAAAAARGH! DAMMIT! I'M GONNA KILL THAT BASTARD!"

* * *

Kurogane walked around in an extremely bad mood for the rest of the day and Fai's continuous little pranks did nothing to improve it. Of course, being in a bad mood was the norm for Kurogane but today he was especially pissed off. Like the incident with their hands being stuck together, he was certain that Fai was the one behind the mischief. The only think he lacked was solid proof and without it, the slim blond could wriggle his way out of any corner, no matter how tight.

As usual when Kurogane got into one of his particularly pissy moods, Syaoran and Sakura did their best to stay far out of his way. They realized that their companion was one the brink of madness and a single word could cause him to detonate. Even Mokona, who usually took any available opportunity to mess with Kurogane's head, was wary of him and decided to play it safe with Syaoran and Sakura.

Unable to stand one more second around the others, Kurogane announced that he was going to bed early and thundered up the stairs, slamming his door behind him with all his considerable might. He tried to finish reading the magazine he had been distracted from that morning but found himself so angry that he couldn't focus on it. What could he do to relieve his fury? The old Kurogane's answer would have been a quick and simple one: "Something needs to die. Now." Unfortunately, his current self was unable to resort to that method as Tomoyo hime had him under a curse. Damn Tomoyo hime.

Eventually, he decided he might as well try to sleep and lay down on his bed. He fumed silently in the dark for quite a while but gradually felt his anger ebbing away. Apparently, the desert's cool nights had something of a calming effect on him. An hour later, he was sound asleep, unaware that his day of torment was not yet over.

* * *

So this was it; the moment he had been looking forward to the most all day was almost here. Fai had a hard time forcing himself to act normally in front of the children until they decided that they were tired and bid him good night. Once he heard their doors click shut, he allowed himself a small squeal of glee. As quick as a flash, Fai hurried up the stairs and found himself standing outside of Kurogane's door trembling from head to toe with excitement. With clammy fingers, he slowly reached out and turned the doorknob as quietly as he could. To his immense surprise (and delight), it had been left unlocked and he was able to squeeze inside without much difficulty.

Fai closed the door behind him as silently as possible and then made himself invisible to ensure that he would not be caught. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the darkness but after a few moments he was able to see relatively well. Oh god. There he was. Seeing Kurogane's still, dark outline beneath the sheets made Fai's already fluttering heart go wild. He approached cautiously, pausing at the bedside to make sure that Kurogane really was asleep. Once he was convinced, he drew a shaky breath and very carefully lifted a corner of the blanket…

* * *

It was dark and quiet when Kurogane awoke next. He remained still, trying to figure out what had disturbed him. There was a suspicious feeling in the pit of his stomach and he didn't like it. But Kurogane remembered his training and didn't move a muscle. If someone tried to attack him, he was ready to spring into action and relieve them of their head.

How long he waited, he didn't know, as there was no clock in his line of vision. Finally, the ever-so-slight sound of the door being opened and shut again reached his ears, causing his heart rate to quicken. Someone else was in the room with him and son of a bitch; it had better not be that goddamn "poltergeist" again… Curiously, he focused his attention and tried to locate an aura. There was none to be found. Aw, _hellz _no. If that stupid piece of shit started bothering him again, he didn't care how intangible that ghost's ass was; he was gonna kick it. Really, really hard.

Kurogane strained his ears to track the progress the intruder was making across his room. Who- or whatever it was was close now. He heard the slight rustle of clothing right at his bedside and then silence. Wait a minute… do poltergeists' clothes rustle? Although he didn't know for sure, he found himself dubious. Surely not…

His visitor was leaning in closer to him, presumably making sure that he was really asleep. Kurogane did his best to pretend that he was oblivious to the presence beside his bed but wasn't sure he was pulling it off convincingly. Then, he caught a trace of something… a very light scent…one that he recognized. His mind raced as he attempted to match the scent with a source.

After considering and rejecting a multitude of possibilities, his brain ground to a halt as it identified a likely match. Holy shit. Kurogane didn't know for sure, but he was almost certain that his heart stopped as he realized who had come to visit him. Once the possibility of who it could be occurred to him, he became quite positive that he had the correct identity. Fai.

He heard the intruder take a slow, shaky breath which served to confirm his suspicions. It was definitely Fai. He felt a slight coolness on his back as a corner of the blankets were pulled back slightly. Then the mattress sank a bit lower as the weight of a second person was added to it. Kurogane felt the covers move a little as Fai pulled them back into place over himself. After a slightly nervous pause, the mattress gave a slight creak as Fai rolled over, placing himself right against the supposedly-sleeping ninja. Fai hesitated there, like he was waiting to see if Kurogane would react to his sudden appearance. Once he was satisfied that Kurogane hadn't noticed him coming in, he settled himself in.

Kurogane felt Fai's chilly fingers on his arm as the blond pulled it close to him. He snuggled his cheek against Kurogane's chest and his head rested just below the swordsman's chin, allowing his lips to softly graze the other's neck. Although Kurogane was stunned by Fai's sudden arrival, he couldn't make himself pull out of the wizard's embrace. For some reason, his muscles weren't obeying his brain's commands. Kurogane eventually gave up trying to force himself to break away, feeling himself blushing at Fai's soft touches. Maybe this wasn't so bad…but only because he could use the added warmth of another body. Nothing more.

Fai smiled to himself as his eyes slid shut. Although he had been sure when he had first entered the room that Kurogane had been asleep, he was equally sure now that he was awake. After all, he could feel Kurogane's sudden tension, could hear his heart pounding and could feel the heat radiating form his blushing cheeks. And yet the ninja made no move to pull away. In fact, if anything it felt as though he were moving closer. But just a little.

**A/N:** Oh, sooooooooo glad to be done with this piece of crap chapter! Yeah, it's all good. Ah, so I'm totally off to watch the bt of the Tsubasa movie I just downloaded, which, I'm told, has a shitload of KxF hints. Wheeeeeeeee!

Review, por favor!


	4. Attack of the Doppelgangers?

**A/N: **Wow, you'd think for the amount of time I took writing this chapter that it would have at least been a good one. But of course, that would just work out way too nicely. Yeah, I'm pretty sure this turned out like crap though I have to admit, it certainly has its moments. My only excuse for this kind of result is that my brain had been in "ultra tart mode" for the longest time now. You think it sucks reading the crap that comes out ofmy brain, just imagine how frustrating it is to _own_ that abomination. Ugh. Poor me.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Attack of the Doppelgangers? **

The sun's harsh rays awoke Fai much too early for his liking. After all, he was having the most amazing dream; that he and Kurogane had spent the whole night snuggling and that he awoke to find the object of his affection still holding him close in his well-built studly ninja-arms. Realizing, however, that the sun would not be leaving him alone anytime soon, he groaned slightly and grudgingly opened his eyes.

It took a moment for Fai's still-hazy mind to grasp the fact that the amazing dream he had been having was actually the even more amazing reality. He and Kurogane really had spent the whole night cuddling and the object of his affection really was still holding him close in his well-built studly ninja-arms. Wow; sometimes life was fabulous enough to make up for all the times that it sucked ass. Feeling highly pleased with himself for being able to pull off such a feat as to sneak into Kurogane's bed, Fai decided to give himself a little reward: he ran his fingers through Kurogane's hair and managed to plant several kisses on his companion's face before the latter awoke fully enough to understand what was going on.

For a ninja who was supposedly notorious for having lighting-fast reflexes, this took a surprisingly long time. Kurogane's thought process looked something like this: _Ugh. Light. In my face. Damn... It's too early for this…… There's something touching my hair. Who the hell would even think about touching my hair? The only dumbshit that might be retarded enough to try that is that magician… but that would be…… double "what the hell?" Something is touching my face now? Are those lips? …But who the fuck would…? I don't remember going to bed with any—oh…**shit**._

"WIZARD!"

Kurogane positively jumped out of bed, landed on the floor with a dull thud, scrambled back against the wall and attempted to dig his way through it even though he could feel the cold plaster against his back. His heart was hammering and he was breathing as though he had just run a marathon. Fai sat up, looked dazedly over at Kurogane (who was having a panic attack against the far wall), stretched and yawned leisurely in an almost cat-like fashion and looked back over at the ninja, a cheerful smile on his face.

"Good morning, Kurokuro!" he trilled.

"Wh…wh-what…" Kurogane stammered, pointing a shaking finger accusingly at Fai, "what the hell do you think you're d-doing!"

Fai tilted his head to one side, a look of polite puzzlement on his face. "Well, let's see… I'm sitting up, looking at you, and saying 'good morning'…"

"Don't give me that, you scrawny bastard!" Kurogane snarled dangerously. "It's waaaay too early in the morning for me to have to deal with your bullshit!"

The blond continued to look clueless although they both knew full well that Fai was just messing with Kurogane's head. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, Kurorin."

Then Fai glanced over at the digital clock that sat on Kurogane's bedside table. "Hmm, I guess I should probably get up now, huh? Sakura chan said she'd make breakfast today but I want to be there in case she needs help with something… Now where are my clothes…?"

Fai got out of bed and looked around for the garments he had shed the night before. Spotting them on the other side of the room, he made his way over to them and picked them up before the angry warrior stopped him.

"DON'T JUST BLOW ME OFF AND ACT LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED, YOU ASSHOLE!" Kurogane shouted, attempting to jerk the clothing out of Fai's hands to keep him from being distracted by it.

Fai opened his mouth to give one of his usual calm replies when there was a light tapping at the door and someone pushed it open.

"Kurogane san," Sakura said timidly, "your breakfast is…Oh!"

The princess turned bright red at the sight of her two older traveling companions standing in the middle of the room together in nothing but their boxer shorts and apparently fighting over a pair of clothes. "I'm…I'm sorry! I—I shouldn't have invited myself in like that! Excuse me!"

She quickly shut the door and the two of them could hear her running down the stairs.

"Oh dear, it looks like you startled Sakura chan, Kurowanko," Fai said, though he didn't sound the least bit perturbed.

"M-me! ME! THIS IS YOUR FAULT, YOU DUMB ASS!" Kurogane raged. "DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO BLAME THIS ON ME!"

Fai blinked at him a few times, zipping up his khaki shorts as he did so. Then he shrugged and said "Ok, Kuropyu. I won't." The blond stood on his tip-toes so that he could give Kurogane another peck on the cheek before coolly leaving the room.

The ninja just watched him go, his face scarlet, adorning a look of pure shock and disbelief. Then he shook himself back into action once more, though he could still feel an odd sensation rising in his chest. Kurogane may have been the most skilled ninja in all of Japan, but that didn't change the fact that Fai was, no doubt, a force to be reckoned with.

* * *

Fai and Kurogane entered the kitchen together to find Syaoran and Mokona at the table, already eating and Sakura finishing up her preparations of Fai's breakfast. When she saw the two of them come in, her face turned scarlet and she intensified her focus on her work so that she wouldn't have to meet their eyes. Likewise, Kurogane chose a seat with his back to her and kept his gaze fixed on his plate. Fai, however, greeted everyone just as cheerfully as ever, seemingly unabashed that Sakura had found him and the ninja in such an uncomfortable position. 

Syaoran, noticing the tension between his fellow travelers, took the plate from Sakura and brought it to Fai, shooting continuous quizzical looks between them.

"So," the wizard said finally, breaking the awkward silence. "What's on our agenda for today?"

"Well… the money we had from Outo that we exchanged is running out," Syaoran said.

"That means everyone'll have to get jobs!" Mokona finished excitedly.

"Eh? Jobs?" Kurogane and Fai asked simultaneously.

"I talked to the guy at the Information Center yesterday and he told me that most places around here require recently-hired employees who are new to the country to get a physical exam before they start working," Syaoran continued. "Sakura chan and I got ours yesterday so that just leaves Kurogane san and Fai san that still have to get one."

Kurogane's frown deepened and he broke into a cold sweat; he had never really trusted doctors. As far as he was concerned, doctors were just highly overpaid guys that enjoyed poking around where they weren't wanted and chopped off any appendages that got in their way as they did so. The thought of getting an exam by one of these butchers sent a shiver down his spine.

"Ooh, Kuropuu looks nervous," Fai giggled, prodding the ninja's shoulder playfully.

"Kurogane doesn't like doctors?" Mokona asked with a note of fiendish glee in his voice. "Is Kurogane afraid?"

"Shut up, white manjuu!" Kurogane snapped. "I never said I was afraid!"

"It's really not so bad, Kurogane san," Sakura said consolingly. "The doctors we saw were really nice and they didn't hurt us at all."

"One of us could come with you if you're afraid to go alone," Syaoran suggested.

"I'M NOT AFRAID, DAMMIT!" the ninja roared. "AND I'M NOT A DAMN BABY! I CAN GO ON MY OWN JUST FINE!"

Having said that, Kurogane stormed out of the kitchen, leaving his companions behind in a stunned silence.

"Kurogane's afraid of doctors! Mokona said after a moment with an evil giggle. "I can't believe it!"

But Fai wasn't listening for it was at that moment that an extremely brilliant idea occurred to him… an idea that concerned a use for his next wish. He quickly dismissed himself from the table with some vague excuse and hurried up to his room where he could plot undisturbed. This was going to be one hell of an awesome day.

* * *

No matter how hard Kurogane thought, he couldn't figure out a way to get himself out of a visit to the doctor's office. His old self might have simply gone and threatened the doctors with his sword until they agreed to fill out the exam form without him actually having to take the exam. He might even have killed one of them just to show the others that he wasn't messing around. But this damn curse that Tomoyo hime had put on him prevented him from choosing that course of action. 

There was nothing else for it; he would simply have to go to the doctor, get his exam and pray to God that Sakura was right about it not being so bad. Then there was the issue about whether he would go alone or take someone with him. He hated to admit it even to himself, but the thought of having one of his companions come along was somewhat comforting. Fai and Mokona were both out of the question, of course, due to amount of pleasure they got out of mocking him. And he couldn't very well take Sakura with him; she was a girl, after all. That left only Syaoran. Kurogane didn't mind Syaoran but the thought of having to bring someone with him because he was too scared to go by himself still made him want to dropkick himself.

As there was no backing out of this situation, though, he had no choice but to go and bring the kid along for…moral support. He heaved a sigh and reluctantly went to find Syaoran. The sooner they got this over with, the better.

* * *

Syaoran glanced at Kurogane as they stood out side the door of the doctor's office building. The ninja's hand was suspended in mid air, hovering shakily over the door handle. 

"Kurogane san?" Syaoran said timidly.

Kurogane shook himself, realizing that he must look like a real sissy to be afraid to enter the doctor's office, and pushed pass the door. A burst of cool air rushed out to greet them, accompanied by the scents of various sanitizers, chemicals used by the doctors and what might have been old people. The things that caused the smells didn't matter to Kurogane; as far as he was concerned, the place smelled of "accidental" deaths just waiting to happen. He suppressed a shudder and stepped into the building.

Everyone who was sitting in the waiting room looked up from their magazines as the two of them entered and stared openly at Syaoran and Kurogane, both of whom looked quite pale compared to the natives of this country. The boy and the ninja did their best to pretend that they didn't realize that they were the center of attention and made their way up to the receptionist's counter.

The receptionist had her back to them but from what they could see of her, she seemed to be tall and slim, with short, messy blonde hair and skin that was even fairer than theirs. Kurogane thought he recognized her from somewhere but from where, he didn't know. As he was studying her, trying to place where he'd seen her before, he gave a little smug smirk through his nervousness. For a woman, she didn't have much of a form; her hips seemed to be missing, she had an abnormally flat chest (as far as he could tell from where he was standing), and a virtually non-existent butt.

_Heh. Well, that's what you get for being hell's gate keeper, bitch_, Kurogane thought haughtily.

"Um, excuse us," Syaoran said finally, tired of waiting for her to notice their presence. "We're here to see Kakei sensei for a physical exam—"

Syaoran stopped then, mid-sentence, his jaw dropped in shock. The receptionist had finally turned around, revealing her identity to them; it was none other than their own traveling companion, Fai Flowright. Kurogane's eyes were the size of saucers and he thought he felt his heart skip several beats. Sure, he had always thought Fai looked a bit girly but never enough to actually mistake him for a woman. It must have been partially due to the clothes he was wearing. True, it was only a white lab coat but the style looked distinctly feminine. He was also wearing a pair of small, wire-rimmed glasses which, despite Kurogane's unwillingness to admit it, made him look a great deal more clever and seductive than usual.

"F-F-Fai san!" Syaoran stuttered as soon as he found his voice again. "W-what are you doing here!"

"Oh, I work here," he said cheerfully. Then he looked both of them over with an expression of polite puzzlement on his face. "But do I know you two? You don't look familiar…"

Kurogane and Syaoran looked at each other, baffled. Then they looked back at the doppelganger Fai in front of them, speechless. Doppelganger-Fai simply smiled back at them before saying "You said you were here to see Kakei sensei?"

"Oh, y-yes," Syaoran said, trying to compose himself.

"And your name?" Fai asked.

"It's Kurogane," the ninja answered.

Fai messed around with the computer for a moment or two before coming back to them and leaning on the counter.

"Kurogane, huh?" he said slowly, looking the swordsman straight in the eye. "That's an alright name, I guess. But personally, I would prefer something a little…cuter. Hmm…oh! How about if I call you Kurotan?"

Kurogane was able to pull himself out of his astonishment long enough to allow his eye a twitch of annoyance.

"You don't like it?" Fai grinned. "Ok then, I'll call you Kuropii instead!"

Kurogane slammed one hand down on the counter, using the other one to grab the offending blond by the lapels. "NO! YOU'RE NOT GONNA CALL ME BY THOSE GODDAMN NICKNAMES! WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH YOU FUCKING STUPID MAGICIANS THAT YOU INSIST ON CALLING ME THESE STUPID NAMES!"

Fai simply laughed and pointed over Kurogane's shoulder, causing the ninja to look behind him. Every patient in the waiting room was staring at him after his outburst, their mouths slightly open in surprise and horror at his choice of language. Finally, a little girl who looked to be about five looked at her mother and said "That guy is a potty mouth, huh, Mommy?"

"Put a sock in it, kid!" Kurogane snapped.

The girl stuck her tongue out in response. Kurogane let out a low, dog-like growl and reached for his sword. Just as he was about to pull it out of the sheath, he felt a light, cool touch on his hand and he paused to see who dared to pull a trick like that only to find Fai's hand on his. Kurogane jumped and blushed, pulling his hand away as though he'd been burned.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he spat.

"Kurochii didn't do a very good job being the adult in that situation," Fai scolded lightly, shaking his finger at Kurogane.

"You're the last person I wanna hear that from, you bastard!"

"Ooooookay!" Syaoran interrupted suddenly. "You have Kurogane san all checked in, right, er…Fai san? We'll just go sit in the waiting room now, ok?"

Syaoran paused nervously, wondering if he dared to try dragging the ninja away from the counter. In the end, he decided he'd better not risk it and instead just motioned him towards the waiting room, whispering "People are staring, Kurogane san…w-we should just go sit down."

Kurogane cracked his knuckles threateningly, glaring at Fai before turning to follow Syaoran to the far side of the waiting room. A giggle from behind him made him look over his shoulder to see the blond waving and blowing him a kiss. Kurogane snarled and made an obscene hand gesture at him before disappearing to a section of seats around a corner which Syaoran had chosen so that Fai couldn't provoke the ninja any further.

* * *

"Kurogane san?" 

Syaoran and Kurogane both looked up to see a young woman in white holding a door open and scanning the waiting room expectantly. Kurogane squinted at her as he stood, making sure that she really was a woman this time and not another Fai duplicate. He was pretty sure this one was for real. At least she didn't look like Fai.

"The doctor will see you now," she said, snapping him out of his observations. Kurogane approached her slowly, looking over his shoulder at Syaoran. The expression he wore said "Aren't you coming? You can't just let me face these maniacs alone!" Syaoran smiled back apologetically in a way that replied "Ah, sorry. You're on your own. I'll just wait here ok? Er… good luck and, um…don't die…"

Kurogane's face paled but before he could do anything else, the lady who had summoned him was shutting the door behind him and leading the way down a long, narrow corridor. She opened one of the doors and ushered him in.

"Have a seat on the table. The nurse will be with you shortly," she said with a friendly smile though to Kurogane, it looked more like she was leering.

He nodded wordlessly and did as he was told, looking nervously around the room while the lady shut the door, leaving him alone with his overzealous imagination. As soon as she was gone, Kurogane allowed himself to release a shiver that he had been suppressing. He didn't mind nurses nearly as much as the doctors themselves but he certainly didn't like them either. After all, if the doctor was the Wicked Witch, that would make the nurse like the flying monkeys.

The sound of the doorknob being turned caused him to jump and fix his eyes on the entryway, waiting for it to open and reveal the person who would begin his torture session. When he saw who his nurse would be, he could have sworn he felt his heart stop.

There, framed in the doorway, dressed in a white coat and holding a clipboard stood…Fai.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Kurogane demanded, pointing a trembling finger at him. "I thought you were the receptionist!"

Fai smiled. "Well, it's nice to meet you, too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is our first meeting…"

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT!" Kurogane snarled. "YOU'RE NOT FOOLING ANYONE, MAGICIAN."

"Your name is Kurogane, right?" Fai asked, looking down at his clipboard with an innocent grin. "I'll call you Kurorin, ok? Take off your shoes and step onto the scale, if you would please, Kurorin?"

Muttering angrily under his breath, he removed his shoes, glaring at Fai and stepped onto the scale.

The blond moved the sliding balance until beam was level.

"Wow, you're pretty heavy, huh Kurorin?" Fai marveled. Then he smiled and took the ninja's arm. "But I'll bet that's because of all this muscle, right?

Kurogane simply glared in response as he jerked his arm away and stepped off the scale. Of course he was heavy compared to Fai; that idiot couldn't possibly weigh more than a loaf of WonderBread.

"Ok, now take a seat on the table again so I can take your blood pressure," Fai instructed.

Kurogane dropped sullenly onto the table and watched as Fai wrapped the gauge around his arm and began to squeeze the pump.

"Your muscles seem a little tense, Kurorin," the wizard commented as he continued to inflate the blood pressure contraption. "It's almost as if you were… I don't know…_scared_, or something."

His blue eyes glanced up from the gauge to look at the ninja, a smug little grin playing across his features. Kurogane ground his teeth but kept his mouth shut, knowing that Fai was just trying to get a rise out of him.

"Is that why you brought that boy with you?" he continued. "Because you were too afraid to come alone? Really Kurorin, how do you expect to be a good ninja if you're afraid of a little visit to the doctor's office?"

Kurogane growled at him and started to reach for his sword but Fai interrupted him.

"Hmm… your blood pressure looks a tad high, Kurorin. It's not good for your health, you know."

"AND WHOSE FAULT DO YOU THINK _THAT_ IS, BASTARD!" the warrior snapped.

"I think it's that temper of yours," Fai said unconcernedly. "You really ought to learn to control it."

He unwrapped the gauge from his patient's arm before cupping the other man's cheek in his hand and caressing it with his thumb. "But don't worry; there are procedures that the doctor can perform to help with high blood pressure. It's painful but worth it in the long run. I'll suggest it to the doctor for you, ok?"

Kurogane's face went pale again, a thin sheen of sweat breaking out over his forehead. Fai just laughed at this reaction as he opened one of the drawers and produced a thermometer.

"Open up, now," he trilled.

Fai put the thermometer in Kurogane's mouth and then slipped the stethoscope into his ears so that he could listen to the swordsman's heartbeat. Kurogane's eyes widened as the nurse stuck the cold instrument under his shirt, holding it over his heart. Fai listened closely for a few seconds before moving the device to the ninja's back. A glitter of mischief in his eyes, the blond leaned forward in order to reach his patient's back instead of going around behind him as he should have, intentionally brushing his lips lightly against the other's neck. Once he felt the heat of Kurogane's blush, he quickly removed the thermometer and checked it.

"Oh dear," he said with fake concern, "your temperature looks a bit high as well. I'm afraid poor Kurorin has a slight fever."

Shaking his head in mock sadness, he made his way to the door. "My job here is done. The doctor will be with you shortly so wait patiently, won't you, Kurorin?"

Kurogane glared at him as he left, punching his fist into his other hand threateningly. That bastard had messed with his results! This would certainly lead to extra hassles once the doctor arrived. Then Kurogane thought of something; if that Fai was only a different version of him that lived in this world, then how had he known that Kurogane was a ninja? Kurogane certainly hadn't told him… But before he could consider the suspiciousness of the whole situation, there was another slight rattling of the doorknob, announcing the arrival of Dr. Kakei. Kurogane swallowed hard and straightened up, trying to look calm. After all, doctors could smell fear and it tended to make them a bit needle-happy. He held his breath as the doctor pushed open the door…

* * *

If it was possible for surprise to kill someone, Kurogane would have been stone-cold dead. Really, the doctor's identity shouldn't have surprised him so much with all the shit he had already been dragged through today. But in the ninja's defense, he had been told he would be seeing someone named Dr. Kakei. Regardless of what he had been told, it was Fai that stood before him, his outfit slightly different from before but still keeping up the general "white coat" theme. If Kurogane hadn't been so busy trying not to fall over dead, he might have noticed how good Fai looked in his doctor's getup. 

"Hello, Mr., ah…" Fai consulted his clipboard, "Kurogane. It's nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Flowrite. I know you were told you'd be seeing Dr. Kakei but I'm afraid he was called in to perform emergency surgery and couldn't make it. I hope you're not too disappointed."

The wizard seemed not to notice the look of astonished horror Kurogane was fixing him with as he began to page calmly through the papers in his hand.

"But you were just…! So why are you…? Wh-what the hell…?" Kurogane sputtered, finding his voice at last.

"I believe that doctors should have a more informal relationship with their patients. It makes things less tense between them, you know?" Fai interrupted. "I hope you don't mind if I call you Kuromyuu."

"Yes, actually," Kurogane growled.

"Good! And you can call me 'Fai chan', ok?" he said, giving his patient a roguish wink.

"Like hell I will, bastard."

"Now, let's get this exam started, shall we, Kuromyuu? The first thing I need you to do is take off your shirt."

Kurogane narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously before reluctantly removing his shirt. Fai watched him closely as he did so, an all too innocent smile on his face. Once Kurogane had his shirt off, Fai went around behind him and pressed his ear against his back.

"Take a deep breath for me, ok?" he instructed.

Kurogane obeyed grudgingly, trying not to look as though the contact was bothering him.

Fai closed his eyes as he listened silently and then drew away, shaking his head.

"Hmm, that doesn't sound good," the blond said, frowning slightly. He made a note on his clipboard. Then he put his ear against Kurogane's chest.

"Another deep breath, if you would be so kind, Kuromyuu."

Again, Kurogane obeyed, feeling heat rising in his face and his heart pounding in his chest.

When Fai was done, he was shaking his head again. "Not good, Kuromyuu."

"What's not good?" Kurogane asked in spite of himself.

The wizard didn't answer but made another note, looking slightly worried. Then he smiled again.

"Your heart was pounding pretty hard. Does it make you nervous when I put my ear against your chest?"

"N-No!" Kurogane stammered indignantly. "As if someone like _you_ could make me nervous!"

Fai studied him for a moment before giving a shrug. "Alright, if you say so, Kuromyuu."

He checked his papers again before approaching Kurogane, his eyes glimmering in a way that, ironically, made Kurogane nervous. The swordsman braced himself for what was coming next, expecting something painful. He was surprised when he felt Fai's cool, slim fingers moving gently across his chest, slowly working his was up his neck.

"Wow Kuromyuu, I never expected you to have such soft skin," Fai commented.

"Whatever. Shut up," Kurogane growled.

"I mean it," he said. "It's really nice. I wonder if it would feel as nice against my lips…"

"Does this actually have a purpose in the examination or are you just taking advantage of your position to feel me up?" the ninja asked through gritted teeth.

Fai's expression became thoughtful for a moment, his fingers continuing to apply light pressure as they moved upwards to his collar bone, his Adam's apple, his lymph nodes... "It's a little of both, I suppose. I'm supposed to do it, just to check that everything is in its proper place but if I happen to get a bit of pleasure out of it… well, that's just an added bonus."

"You sick bastard. And you call yourself a doctor?" Kurogane spat.

Fai chose to ignore this last comment and made another note. "This isn't looking good at all," he said again.

Kurogane straightened up, attempting to see what the blond was writing but Fai quickly moved around behind him and began the same technique on his back. As the doctor's fingers moved up his back, Kurogane was unable to keep himself from closing his eyes and savoring the sensation. He hated to admit it, but Fai's touch comforted him in a strange sort of way that he didn't quite understand.

"Mmm, Kuromyuu seems to be enjoying this," Fai's voice said softly from somewhere very close to his ear. Kurogane jumped, his eyes snapping open.

"I-I wasn't enjoying it!" he insisted. "I was just…envisioning myself chopping you in half with my sword once you'd filled out my exam form!"

"Is that so?" Fai asked with a smile that suggested that he knew far too much. "Do you always blush when you imagine yourself chopping someone in half or is it just my privilege?"

He laughed as the color in Kurogane's cheeks intensified. Then he took a quick look in both of the warrior's ears and in his throat. Once he had finished, he sighed, putting his clipboard down on the counter, steepling his fingers and focusing a serious gaze on his patient.

"I'm not sure of the best way to tell you this so… I figured I should just tell you straight out," Fai began somberly. "After looking you over, I've discovered what may be the symptoms of a serious problem which could ultimately be the cause of your death. There are ways to fix the problem but… they tend to be quite painful and the success rate is… discouragingly low. I'm going to call in a few of my nurses just to make sure that I'm reading all the signs right, but to be completely honest… things don't look so good for you."

Kurogane stared at him, his eyes wide. Surely this was some kind of bad joke. After all, he felt fine! People with fatal conditions don't feel completely normal one moment and then keel over dead the next. It just didn't happen. Surely Fai couldn't be telling the truth about this.

Before Kurogane's brain could formulate any kind of response to the doctor's claim, there was a soft knock at the door and several people filed silently into the room. For about the third time that day, the ninja received another extremely nasty shock though this one outdid them all by far. Four people had joined them just now, all wearing similar clothing and grave expressions, all sporting exactly the same haircut, the same eye color, the same skin tone, the same height and build.

Kurogane rubbed his eyes frantically before looking at them again; either his vision was playing tricks on him or he was going insane. Only one thought could penetrate his numb brain: _My god, I've died and gone to hell._ That was the only possible explanation. Nowhere but in hell would he be able to find himself surrounded by five nearly identical copies of Fai. One Fai was bad enough but five? That was more than any mortal man could hope to withstand.

Kurogane pinched himself hopefully; maybe he would get lucky and wake up back at the house to find that this had all just been a terrible nightmare. No such luck; the pinch hurt like a bitch and there were still five Fais standing in front of him. Realizing that his circumstances were hopeless, Kurogane switched his attention back to the situation at hand. If he was going to live through this experience, he would need to have his wits about him.

The Fais were gathered in the far corner of the room, their heads bowed in whispered conversation. Kurogane watched them suspiciously, straining his ears to catch what they were saying. The Fai who Kurogane and Syaoran had met at the reception desk looked up at him from the huddle and started giggling like a little girl. His fellows quickly shushed him, but not before allowing themselves a snigger first. Kurogane rolled his eyes; he'd never been to a young girls' sleepover party but this was what he imagined them to be like. Disgusting.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the Fais dispersed from their huddle, their expressions grim once more. The main doctor Fai stepped forward.

"After looking over the results, my colleagues and I agree that performing the operation on you is your only chance of survival," he said seriously. The other Fais nodded their heads simultaneously in agreement. "I'm afraid it will have to be done immediately. One of my staff will inform your young friend in the waiting room."

One of the other Fais broke free from the group and left the room at these words, presumably to tell Syaoran that Kurogane was about to go into surgery.

"N-now wait just one minute!" Kurogane demanded, his hands balling themselves into fists. "Y-you can't operate on me without my consent!"

The remainder of the assistant Fais approached him menacingly as he spoke and Kurogane began to reach for his sword.

"I'm afraid we can, since your life isin jeopardy," Dr. Flowrite said coolly.

The assistants sprang forward, pinning the ninja down to the table before he could take action.

"Hey! Let me go, you bastards!" Kurogane shouted, trying to worm out of their grasp. But just like the Fai he knew, they all seemed to have grips of steel.

Dr. Flowrite regained his smile as he too approached, holding a rather sinister-looking syringe. In reality, the needle was no longer than an ordinary sewing needle but to Kurogane, it looked to be almost as long as a bus and twice as wide. A little voice in the back of his head, sensing that it was the worst possible moment to make its appearance, spoke up at that point; _How ironic that you're afraid of a little needle when you have to face long, deadly swords every day in your line of work. _If Kurogane hadn't been so panicked right then he probably would have told that little voice to go fuck itself, but at the moment he had more pressing issues to deal with.

He struggled with all his might but the group of Fais that were holding him just tightened their grip painfully. Dr. Flowrite paused at his side and leaned in close, stroking Kurogane's hair.

"Don't worry Kuromyuu," he cooed. "It will only hurt for a moment."

"Oh, thanks a lot… you bastard…!" Kurogane panted. "That really…makes me feel… a hell of a lot…better…!"

Dr. Flowrite giggled. "Good night, Kuromyuu," he whispered, giving the ninja a kiss on the forehead. Kurogane's eyes widened as he felt a sharp sting in his shoulder and all the Fais that had been holding him down let go of him. He tried to use his arms to push himself into a sitting position but his limbs felt impossibly heavy.

"Now, someone take his pants off," one of the Fais instructed cheerfully, his voice sounding as though it were traveling through water.

"Ooh, dibs!" another Fai shouted eagerly.

Kurogane began to see big black patches appearing at the edge of his vision and his thoughts moved very slowly. He could feel someone loosening his belt…and then unbuttoning his shorts…

* * *

Fai glanced up at the clock that hung on the office wall once Kurogane stopped struggling. It was now five o'clock, which meant he only had two and a half hours before his duplicates disappeared. 

"Alright now, everyone," Dr. Flowrite, the original Fai, said. "That's enough, I think."

"Awww…" the copies moaned in disappointment.

"But can't we at least finish up here?" Receptionist-Fai asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not," Dr. Flowrite said with a sardonic smile. "My mission was simply to have a bit of fun with Kurochan; not violate him."

All of the Fai duplicates hung their heads.

"But don't worry, our fun isn't completely over," he reminded them. "We still have to carry him home, remember."

That made everyone perk up a little.

* * *

"Fai san!" Syaoran said worriedly when he saw the wizard enter the waiting room. "Where is Kurogane san? Will he be ok?" 

"Kurosama will be just fine, Syaoran kun," Fai assured him. "And don't look so panicked; I didn't do anything to him. He's just sleeping, that's all."

"I'm glad," the boy sighed. "Will you be bringing him home on the bus?"

"Actually… I had something else in mind…"

Syaoran's brow furrow quizzically.

"Besides, if we brought him back like this on the bus, it would look a little strange, right? You go ahead and take it anyway. Kuromin and I will be along shortly."

"…Right."

The younger traveler began to leave but Fai stopped him.

"Oh, and Syaoran kun?"

Syaoran turned back to him.

"When Kuropun wakes up, he won't know that all this wasn't just a dream. I'd really appreciate it if you'd let him keep thinking that, ok?"

"…S-sure…"

"Thank you, Syaoran kun. Be safe on your way home."

"I will."

Fai watched Syaoran push the door open, throw him a curious glance over his shoulder and disappear into the desert heat.

* * *

Kurogane opened his eyes slowly and blinked several times, his mind still feeling somewhat foggy and gelatinous from his unnatural sleep. It took a few moments for the day's events to roll over on him, but once they did, he sat up quickly and looked around. 

"Oh, Kurotan's awake now," Fai commented cheerfully. "Did you sleep well? Are you feeling better?"

Kurogane frowned, fixing Fai with a wary gaze. Had all those things at the doctor's office really happened or was it all just a bad dream?

"What…happened?" he asked uncertainly.

"Sakura chan came upstairs this morning to tell you breakfast was ready but you wouldn't wake up," Fai lied. "We figured you must've been tired from this heat so we decided to let you sleep in. When it got to be noon and you still weren't up, we got a little worried that maybe you were sick so I came up here to look after you."

Kurogane continued to watch the blond disbelievingly, searching for any sign that he was lying. He was highly suspicious though the day's events seemed far too strange to have been for real. But if it had all been just a dream, why had he been able to feel it when he pinched himself?

"Now that you're up, I'll bring your supper up to you, ok?" Fai offered.

The wizard left before Kurogane had a chance to ask any questions, leaving the ninja alone with his confused thoughts. Gingerly, he prodded the area where Dr. Flowrite had given him the sedative injection to see if it was sore. He winced as his fingers found the tender spot and he ripped back his sleeve to examine the area. There was a bruise there. How strange; an injection wouldn't have given him a bruise. Maybe he had hid his shoulder on something while he was sleeping which had caused his brain to create the injection situation in his dream?

He put his head in his hands and closed his eyes; this was all so confusing. Whether or not that whole doctor's office thing had really happened or not, it opened up the way for some semi-disturbing possibilities. If it had been for real, then what had Fai done to him after he had blacked out and why didn't that uncertainty bother him as much as it should have? If it had been a dream, that would make it the second one he had had about the mage in two days which was something he found a bit unsettling. Why was that damn guy on his mind all the time?

Fai entered the room, carrying a tray on one hand. Kurogane decided he would push all these questions aside for consideration some other time. He simply didn't have the energy to explore all the "what if's" for now.

* * *

**A/N**: Hmm, something tells me I'd better run like hell if I don't want all my readers to shoot me. Yeah, I'm outta here. My sincerest apologies and er… I hope as much as you do that the next chapter turns out better than this unpleasant bit of poo. 

P.S. If you're wondering about that somewhat random insertion of the word "gelatinous" up there, one of my friends requested that I try to work it in to this chapter of the fic. I hope she's happy, the jerkface.


	5. Eyes Wide Shut Omake

**A/N: **What's this? An omake chapter? No way! Yeah, this chapter is shorter than the rest and it doesn't contain any hints as to what Fai's next wish will be. So sorry. But I really wanted to add this in here and it didn't seem to fit anywhere else so I just gave it its own chapter. How clever (and annoying, I'm sure) of me.

* * *

**Eyes Wide Shut**

He lie in bed, eyes clamped shut, blankets pulled up over his head, trying his best to fall asleep. But it was useless; he had been lying like this for over an hour and still he felt restless. It was his mind that kept him awake. His thoughts were racing and spinning and becoming muddled and confused inside his head, and try as he might to push the multitude of unwanted notions away, they just kept crashing over him like ocean waves.

No, comparing the thoughts to ocean waves just didn't do the feeling justice. It was more like…swimming in a pool of piss; harmful? Not really. Strange? Kind of. Disgusting? Definitely. Not only that, but it was one of those things that others could smell on you, even after you've crawled out of the nastiness. When you've been swimming in a pool of piss, everybody knows it and they're going to start wondering all sorts of things and making endless amounts of nasty assumptions. Kurogane sighed and pushed himself into a sitting position on the edge of his bed. Obviously, his ceaseless musings would not allow him to sleep anytime soon so he figured he might as well make himself some tea to help clear his head.

After a few moments of sitting in silence, the ninja got to his feet and quietly eased his bedroom door open, not wanting to wake any of his fellow travelers. The last thing he needed was one of them asking him what was wrong and trying to pry their way into his personal matters to "help" him solve his predicament. Fai would be the worst of all; his sharp cerulean eyes would sense Kurogane's inner turmoil right away and he would interrogate him relentlessly until he got some answers. Damn it! Here he had been trying extra hard not to let a single thought of Fai enter his head for just a few moments and one had sneaked in anyway.

Kurogane put some water on the stove to boil and dug through the cabinets until he found the teabags. While he was waiting for the water to heat up, he took a seat at the table, resting his chin on his fist. His mind continued to race with worrying, confusing thoughts which rendered him completely unaware of the approaching presence. It wasn't until his visitor spoke his name, jerking him out of his reverie rather harshly, that he realized that someone had joined him.

"Kurogane san?" Princess Sakura said tentatively. "What are you doing up at this hour? You look a little pale… Is something wrong?"

"No. It's nothing," he growled. Obviously, she had smelled the mental piss he'd been swimming in. Kurogane gritted his teeth as he prepared himself to deal with the unwanted side effects. This whole time, he made sure to avoid her eyes. Maybe if he didn't look at it, it would go away. Sakura sat down in the chair across the table from him. Damn.

"Are you sure? You seem worried… I know I'm not much help to anyone on this journey, but if something's bothering you, I'd be more than happy to listen to your problems and do what I can to help you solve them…"

Double damn; just what he had been hoping to avoid.

"I said there's nothing wrong," Kurogane insisted. "Nothing's bothering me."

The two of them sat in awkward silence for a few moments, the ninja glaring at the wall and Sakura watching him timidly.

"Ah, um… I think your water is boiling, Kurogane san," the princess squeaked finally. Glad for an excuse to break the awkward moment, Kurogane got up from the table and removed his water from the burner, pouring a portion into a mug for himself. Then he paused and looked over his shoulder at Sakura. "You want some?"

"Oh! Yes, please!" she replied quickly.

He took a second mug from one of the cabinets and poured the remaining hot water into it. Then he let out an irritated sigh.

"I bet you'll be wanting some of this fancy crap in it too, huh?"

He gestured towards the cream and sugar.

"I-if you don't mind…" Sakura replied shakily.

Shaking his head slightly in disgust, he added both to her cup and all but slammed it on the table in front of her, though he still managed not to let any splash over the rim; it always annoyed him when people were wasteful like that. Sakura picked up her cup and took a careful sip. Kurogane glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he too took a drink.

"What are _you_ doing up?" he demanded. The tone of voice he used hinted at his actual thoughts, which were "why the hell are you here bothering me?"

"Well, I just had a feeling that something wasn't… quite right," she finished uncertainly. The princess was watching him with those quizzical emerald eyes of hers and Kurogane felt as though she were somehow x-raying his brain.

"Damn…" he sighed eventually. "I guess there's just no hiding anything from you when it comes to… things like this."

He had almost said "matters of the heart" but just letting that phrase cross his mind made him want to vomit. What a disgusting phrase. Whoever had thought of it should be hunted down and shot.

Sakura chanced a sheepish grin. "That's what Oniisan used to say, too. But he also used to say that, once he had told me what was on his mind and let me help him come to a decision, he felt much better."

Kurogane set his mug down on the table and looked her straight in the eye for the first time since she had entered the kitchen. "If I tell you, you're not to repeat it to anyone. Got it? Especially not to that damn mage."

Sakura nodded fervently. "Of course not! I promise!"

The ninja stared into his cup as he tried to think of a way to voice his problem without sounding like a total pansy. He ran over a dozen possible conversations in his head but they all sounded so flamingly retarded that he actually considered sticking his head in the garbage disposal. "When I think about that wizard…", "There's something about that tall skinny guy that makes me feel…", "It's about that magician… I think I might be…" _Oh just fucking _shoot_ me._

"Kurogane san…" Sakura breathed, looking way too excited, "are you… in _love_!"

Kurogane jumped out of his chair as though he had been electrocuted. "What the…! Who said…! How could you…!" Then he stopped, realizing how stupid he sounded, babbling like this. He took a deep breath to compose himself and tried again. "What gives you a _stupid_ idea like that?"

Sakura giggled, leaning forward eagerly and resting her chin on her fist. "When you were trying to decide how to tell me what the problem was, you kept blushing!"

Of course, the princess pointing this out only made him blush harder which, in turn, caused her start giggling again.

"Who is it!" she whispered excitedly. "Is it anyone I know!"

"Damn it! You're laughing!" he snarled. "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you!"

"I'm sorry," she said, taking a breath to calm herself. "It's just… I'm so happy for you!"

Kurogane stared at her, bewildered. "_Happy_…?"

"Yes!" she gushed. "Love really is a wonderful thing. I believe everyone should get to experience it at least once in their lifetime. A life without it… would be so sad."

For a moment, Sakura had a distant look in her eyes but then it disappeared and Kurogane wasn't sure if he had actually seen it or not.

Her face grew eager again. "So, who is it?"

The swordsman stared into his cup again, swilling its contents uncomfortably. "You know, this is stupid. Just forget I said anything."

There was a moment's silence before he felt her hand touch his lightly and it caused him to jump and look up at her in surprise.

"Is it Fai san?" Sakura asked seriously.

Kurogane paused. "…I don't know…" he replied honestly.

"Well, whether it is or it isn't, you should decide soon. A wise person once told me 'If you truly want something, you have to reach out and grab it. If you wait too long, it might disappear.' If Fai san really is the one you love, you have to tell him soon. Who knows how much longer we'll be together."

He stared at her, his eyes round with surprise. The princess had always seemed like a class A airhead but now here she was, spouting out words of wisdom. Although he realized that she was right about his situation, he decided that he would have preferred her to just keep being the same ditzy fourteen-year-old that he was used to. Things were always so much simpler when people didn't go around defying his expectations. He hated it when they did that, the rebellious bastards.

Sakura finished off the last of her tea in silence before standing up rather abruptly and bringing her cup to the sink. She paused in the doorway of the kitchen but didn't turn around to face him.

"Good night, Kurogane san. I hope you're able to figure everything out in time…"

With that, the princess left the room, vanishing down the dark hallway. Kurogane stared after her, an irritated, uneasy feeling stirring in his stomach. He wasn't sure why but he was experiencing a surge of annoyance towards Sakura.

"_Good night, princess,_"Kurogane muttered to himself in a mocking voice. "_I hope your brain doesn't explode while you're sleeping._"

The ninja rinsed out his cup and set it on the counter before heading back to his room. He thought the tea would have helped make him tired but he still felt restless. His eyes moved restlessly around the room, looking for something with which to entertain himself. A small copper coin that someone had dropped on his carpet caught his eye and he crawled over and picked it up.

Kurogane had never really been the superstitious sort, but as he turned the coin between his fingers, the desire to play a little game of chance popped into his head. Heads, I love him, tails, I don't. Best out of three. He took a deep breath and flipped the coin into the air and watched fixedly as it fell to the ground, seemingly experiencing it in slow motion.

It landed on the floor and he leaned forward to read his result. To his disgust, it was a heads. _It's ok, no problem_, he told himself. _There are still two more chances to get a different result._ His stomach fluttering nervously, Kurogane tossed the coin again, watching its progress fixedly. He felt his heart sink as he looked at the result: heads again.

Snarling angrily, he picked up the coin once more, tossing it and watching it fall. Heads. What the bloody hell? Was this thing rigged?

He tried again. Heads. And again. Heads. And again. Yet another heads.

Finally, he got so angry that he threw the coin across the room and climbed back into bed, fuming. What did that stupid coin know anyway? Absolutely nothing. The idiotic thing probably didn't even know it was a coin so how could it possibly be an accurate indicator of his feelings? There must be something wrong with it that caused it to land on heads every time. Even as he thought that, Kurogane knew it wasn't true. But he rolled over stubbornly and closed his eyes, refusing to think about it any more.

The coin remained on the floor where it had landed after Kurogane had thrown it, glinting innocently in the moonlight. Incidentally, there was nothing wrong with the way it had been made and it was perfectly aware of the fact that it was a coin. Kurogane didn't give in to his curiosity and go over to check what side it had landed on. If he had, he probably would have been quite frustrated, seeing as how it was, once again, heads.

* * *

**A/N: **In case you were wondering, no, I wasn't trying to drop any Kuro/Sakura hints. Ugh. The thought makes me shudder. Ugggggggh. Ugh. But as I was reading this over, it kind of sounded like I was trying to suggest it so I just had to clear that up for y'all. It's not there so you can relax now… and review, of course. Don't forget to review. 


	6. I'll Be Your Everything

**A/N: **Hyuu! Update! About time, huh? I had trouble with this chapter. It was tough. Yup yup. I'm not sure how it turned out; I'm having mixed feelings about the result. I hope I don't disappoint you all. Hai, douzo.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**I'm Your Everything**

Dependence. Just hearing the word made Kurogane's skin crawl and filled him with the desire to punch someone's face in. "Hate" hardly did the feeling he had toward the concept justice. The closest way to describe his sentiments toward it were the words "loath entirely", and still, his abhorrence of the idea of dependence didn't manage to be properly conveyed, even if you were to italicize the word _entirely_. Yet as much as he hated it, he somehow managed to find himself displaying it. Well, if that didn't just make him want to inject pond water under his own kneecaps… To make matters worse, the person that he was depending on at the moment was a certain skinny blond wizard, who was looking entirely too smug about the whole situation.

"Are you done yet?" Kurogane snarled, his face beet-red with a mixture of rage and embarrassment.

Fai grinned down at him, a mischievous sparkle in his eye. "Nope!" he trilled happily. "Not even close!"

"You horny bastard… You're doing this on purpose!" the ninja snapped.

The two of them had been in this position for a good ten minutes at least, Kurogane lying on his back, spread-eagled on the bed, Fai perched joyfully on top of his stomach, pretending to be having a terrible time with the chore he was supposed to be doing.

"Yes, you're probably right," he agreed. "But I'm afraid there's nothing you can do about it, Kurotan."

Sakura and Syaoran had managed to find jobs whereas the wizard and ninja had been less successful. That meant that the younger two travelers had gone off to work, leaving their older companions behind to clean the house.

Currently, the two of them were engaged in the activity of "bed-making", a chore that neither of them had much practice with. They had finished putting the sheets through the wash and were now attempting to put them back on the beds, which is the task we find our two protagonists now working on. Kurogane was convinced that their hostess had put these mattress pads on their beds just to give them an extra hassle when they had to put the sheets on over them.

The mattress pads had an infuriating habit of wanting to roll up unless they were securely weighted down. As the taller of the two, Kurogane had been given this chore since he could stretch out his arms and legs farther to keep the corners from sticking up while Fai pulled the sheets down over them. Kurogane was faithfully doing his part of the job. Fai, however, was being considerably less helpful; he sat on Kurogane's stomach, giving the occasional fake, very unconvincing complaint that he just couldn't pull the corner of the fitted sheet down far enough to get it to stay in place.

In an attempt to be even _less_ helpful than he already was, Fai had the courtesy to insist on having the "radio" accompany them while they worked. As soon as Kurogane laid eyes on the machine, he knew that he hated it. It made far too much noise and had way too many buttons and compartments on it to be trustworthy. And the way its antenna glinted smugly in the sunlight pouring in through the window in which it sat pissed the ninja off to no end. The damn thing obviously wanted to start something.

Fai stretched out his lanky body, sprawling himself over the unfortunate ninja as he pretended once again to be struggling with the fitted sheet. Kurogane could feel the blond's warm breath on his neck, their hearts pressed against one another, beating in unison, their legs intertwined…it was too much for him to take any longer.

"Damn it! I've had enough of your screwing around, bastard!" the warrior growled, sitting up suddenly.

Fai giggled, wrapping his long legs around Kurogane's waist and tangling his fingers into his black spiky hair. "Why Kurowan, if some 'screwing around' was what you wanted, you should have said something! You know I just can't say no to one of Kuropiko's requests!"

Kurogane's face increased another shade of red and he shoved the wizard off of him.

"You're not even trying to make the damn bed!" The second he moved his arms, the mattress pad stubbornly sprang back into a role and bobbed complacently against the ninja's back as if it hoped to attract his attention and draw a reaction from him. "And why the hell do we have to have that radio turned up so loud!"

"Hmm, I guess you're right about that," Fai mused, rubbing his chin. "The atmosphere isn't nearly as seductive with the radio turned up loud, is it?"

"As if that was what I meant, dumb ass!" Kurogane snapped, getting to his feet. "And you can finish making the damn bed yourself!"

He stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Fai watched him go, wondering how long it would take the ninja to notice that a certain something that had recently taken up residence in his back pocket was now missing. He turned the wallet over in his long slender fingers as he waited.

"Three…two…one…" Fai muttered to himself as he quickly hid the wallet out of sight. Right on cue, Kurogane kicked the door open furiously and stormed into the room, fixing Fai with his signature "glare-o'-death". Fai simply grinned innocently back at him.

"Ooh, Kurokuro has decided to come back and help me make the bed after all, hmm? Good thing; there's no way I could—"

"Where is it, you bastard?" the ninja spat.

"Why, the bed is right here, of course, Kuropii. I'm sitting on it."

"Not that, you skinny little shit! My wallet! I know you have it! Give it to me before I tear you to shreds and dig through your guts for it!"

"I just don't understand you, Kuropun. I mean, wouldn't it be harder to find your wallet if you had to dig through my guts?"

Kurogane was shaking with barely controlled rage, his scarlet eyes flaming angrily.

"Anyway, there's no need to tear me to shreds," the blond continued cheerfully. "Your wallet is right here!"

Fai pulled the object in question out of his back pocket and held it up for Kurogane to see, shaking it tantalizingly. The two simply stared each other down for a moment before Kurogane lunged for the wizard, who quickly jumped to his feet, still holding the stolen wallet.

"Here you go, Kurowan—oops!" Fai giggled as he "accidentally" dropped it down the front of his pants. Kurogane stared dumbly, his mouth hanging open in disgust. Fai was still laughing as he raised his hands in passive invitation. "You still want it, Kuromin? Come and get it!"

The warrior let out a very doglike snarl as he poised himself to pounce on Fai when, for some strange reason, a news report that was being read over the radio caught his attention.

"Last night on the west side of town, a bus carrying 300 people went over a cliff when the tire blew out causing the driver to lose control. Police say they are still looking for survivors but the situation looks grim."

Upon hearing this news, most people would have been saddened; however, Kurogane's first thought was _How the fuck do they fit 300 people on one bus?_

He was still mulling that story over when the announcer moved on to the next news topic.

"As everyone knows, Hoshi Matsuri is being celebrated tonight. A festival is open to the general public in the town square though many people often choose to spend the night elsewhere. For those who are new to the area and don't know about this custom, let me fill you in; Hoshi Matsuri is a holiday that one generally spends with their special someone, lighting off fireworks and stargazing.

"One of the most popular practices of Hoshi Matsuri is to share an Aiyoku sparkler with your loved one. The sparkler is in the form of a long stick which the couple breaks in half. Each person lights their half and then touches the end of their sparkler to their loved one's. If their sparks are red when the two halves are touched together, it is said that the couple will be blessed with undying love for each other. So for all you couples out there, find a special spot to light your Aiyoku sparklers tonight and good luck with your relationship!"

"What a beautifully romantic tradition, hmm, Kurotan?" Fai gushed. "Maybe we should go get some fireworks today, huh? As long as we're in this country, we might as well join in the fun!"

Kurogane simply stared at the blond blankly, his eyes holding a vacant, unseeing look in them. Fai looked back at him uncertainly, not sure if the swordsman was simply trying to lure him into a false sense of security before striking. Then, without warning, Kurogane whipped around and quickly stalked out of the room, his expression one of determination, slamming the door behind him.

Fai frowned thoughtfully as he took the wallet out of his pants. Kurogane seemed to have been suddenly hit by some amazing plan and he was so eager to carry it out that he had totally forgotten his rage and his wallet. Doubtless, if the mage were to ask about these secret plans, he would be told that it was "none of your damn business" and to "go the hell away". But he so desperately wanted to know what was going on in Kurogane's conniving mind…

Fai slid off the bed and headed for his own room. He and Sumomo had a little business to take care of. The blond snickered to himself as he pushed open his bedroom door. Whatever Kurogane was planning, he would figure it out; he was determined. And very few things can stand of the way of a determined Fai… except for ice cream. Mmm, ice cream…

* * *

Fai pressed his ear against the ninja's bedroom door, listening for any kind of sound that might betray the nature of his actions. Unfortunately for the wizard, he couldn't hear anything; not until it was too late, anyway. Kurogane whipped open the door, arms folded, looking down at the mage with an accusing glare. Fai, taken by surprise at the unexpected disappearance of the door that he had been leaning against, lost his balance and stumbled forward, suddenly finding his ear pressed against Kurogane's chest instead.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" the ninja growled. Fai noted happily, however, that Kurogane didn't push him away or make any move to break the contact between them.

"Ooh…Daddy caught me!" Fai laughed, putting his arms around the swordsman's waist. "Kurowanwan was acting so suspicious; I just had to know what you were up to. You know, in case it was anything I might be interested in."

When his explanation was met with silence, Fai looked up at Kurogane curiously. Were his eyes playing tricks on him or was Kurogane's face suddenly very red?

"Hmph," the ninja grunted, "I'm not up to anything that has to do with you so just screw off."

"Aww—! Big Puppy is no fun!" Fai whined, hugging Kurogane tighter.

"Yeah? Well, you'll be having even less fun if I decide to kill you! Now beat it!"

Fai curled his lip in exaggerated disappointment and continued on towards his room, hanging his head and doing his best to portray a big let-down. The blond hadn't actually expected to be able to find out what was on his companion's secret agenda simply by listening through the door, but he figured it was worth a try before he went and used up one of his precious wishes in order to find out.

Kurogane watched him go, his scarlet eyes narrowed suspiciously. Fai was being far too agreeable; he must be up to something… The ninja closed the door again, relocking it, and pulled the shades on his window. Whether Fai was up to something or not, it wouldn't matter if he couldn't even enter the warrior's lair.

* * *

Fai was feeling rather pleased with himself as he crawled through the crack under Kurogane's bedroom door and then skittered silently up the wall. Kurogane was a silly, naïve little man if he thought that locks and shades could keep Fai D. Flowrite out. Fai stopped climbing once he reached the ceiling and fixed his eyes, all six of them, on his target. If he were capable, he would have let out a dreamy sigh; naïve as Kurogane may be, it didn't stop him from being one hell of a sexy beast as well.

Kurogane was completely unaware that he was being watched; he was too busy searching for a certain page in the magazine that he had bought in this world a few days ago. He ground his teeth in annoyance. He knew the page he was looking for was here somewhere but since the magazine contained over 500 of them in all, it was something like looking for a needle in a haystack (Kurogane had never fully understood this figure of speech. Why the fuck would anyone want to find a needle in a haystack? Needles weren't expensive. If the seeker wanted a needle so badly, then why didn't they just drag their lazy ass out of the house and buy a new one? Whoever made up that expression, Kurogane thought irritably, should be hunted down and shot).

Fai ran across the ceiling to join Kurogane on the other side of the room. He dropped down onto the windowsill on a strand of silk, a perfect place for him to watch from. It was close enough that he could see perfectly well what the ninja was doing but not so close that he would be detected and possibly crushed with the magazine that his companion was searching through so impatiently. Fai peered down over Kurogane's shoulder, watching as he paged through the periodical frantically; he seemed to be looking for a specific page. The blond was confused by this; what could Kurogane possibly have heard on the radio that would spark this frenzied search through his magazine?

After about five more minutes of frustrated hunting, Kurogane found the page he was looking for. He sighed and closed his eyes, running a hand backward through his raven hair in an attempt to regain his composure before he began reading. Fai squinted at the articles that Kurogane had stopped at. Both were one-pagers so he didn't know which one had attracted Kurogane's attention. On one side was a comic featuring silly chibi characters and on the other page was a girly-looking article entitled "Will You and Your Crush Get the Spark You're Looking For!" with a pink background decorated by large yellow daisies. Neither of them seemed very likely to contain anything of interest to someone like Kurogane.

Fai's eight spindly legs wriggled with frustrated indecision. He really wanted to drop down and get a closer look at the pages that Kurogane was so deeply immersed in but he knew that if he did, he would be in grave danger of getting himself noticed and squished. But if he didn't try to get closer, he might never know what Kurogane was up to…

Before he had even come close to making up his mind, Kurogane suddenly scrambled to his feet, startling Fai so that he jumped, and dashed over to the desk, on top of which sat a notepad. He quickly ripped off a sheet, grabbed a pen and went back to his magazine where he proceeded to, Fai assumed, take notes, which he wrote in small hurried characters that were illegible to Fai's foreign eyes.

As soon as he had finished, he closed the magazine with a snap, stuffed the piece of paper into his back pocket and got to his feet once more. He paused for a moment, his head bowed so that the wizard couldn't see his expression, seemingly trying to gather his thoughts before he set out on his mysterious task. Then he lifted his gaze, a look of grim resignation upon his face and left the room with a purposeful stride.

* * *

Kurogane scribbled down a list of everything he would have to get before evening arrived. As he did so, the back of his mind was whirring with disbelief. What the hell was he doing, taking notes on a stupid thing like this? Was he actually doing this of his own free will or had some mean bitch of an alien/ghost/other dubious being possessed his body in order to force him to do its bidding? Would he actually have the nerve to do what he planned to do when the time for action came? Could he afford all this stuff? Shit. Fai still had his wallet, the scrawny bastard. That meant he would have to get it from him before he could go anywhere.

Kurogane finished his "to-do" list, stuffed it in his back pocket, and got up, preparing to leave the room. His face suddenly became very hot; the possibility of what the night ahead had in store for him, the humiliation of having to go out and buy all this stuff and the idea of rescuing his wallet from its captivity in Fai's pants were at fault for this. But something inside him wouldn't let him just forget the whole thing and simply go on with his day. As much as he dreaded what the future had in store for him, it also held tantalizing potential and that was something he just couldn't ignore.

He opened the door, his glare already in place, expecting to find Fai sitting there again with his ear pressed against it. To his surprise however the hallway was empty and this, for some reason, unnerved him a little. After all, Kurogane knew that Fai was definitely up to no good, so if he wasn't waiting right outside his door, there was no telling where the mage could be lurking.

"Oi! Wizard!" he called.

"Yes, Kurochuu?" a voice said from very close by. Kurogane started and looked around to find Fai standing right next to him, that all-too-innocent grin on his face once more.

"Give me my damn wallet," Kurogane demanded shortly.

Fai laughed and latched on to his arm like a cheerful leech. "Say please," he sang in an irritating voice.

"Like hell I will," Kurogane growled. "Give it to me before I decide to slice you in half."

"Now, now, Daddy," the blond giggled, shaking a finger at him. "That's not how we get what we want. We have to ask _nicely_."

Losing what little patience he had to start with, Kurogane grabbed Fai by the lapels, lifting him off his feet. Fai, for his part, didn't seem the least bit perturbed by this and just continued to grin in that infuriating manner of his. "Give it to me. _Now_."

"Not until you say 'please'."

Shaking with barely controlled rage, the ninja took a deep breath and gritted his teeth, the color rising in his face once more. "P…please."

"I'm sorry; I didn't quite catch that. What did you say?"

Kurogane lifted his gaze to meet Fai's, angry flames blazing in his crimson eyes, before suddenly releasing his hold on the magician and letting him fall to the floor. Before Fai had a chance to get to his feet again, Kurogane had grabbed him by the ankles and began shaking him upside-down with all his considerable might.

"I SAID IT, DAMMIT! NOW GIVE ME MY GODDAMN WALLET!" he roared.

"Wheeeeeeee!" Fai cheered as the warrior shook him.

Finally, Kurogane's wallet slipped out of Fai's pocket and landed on the floor. With a sigh of relief, Kurogane snatched his prize, dropped the wizard once more and dashed out of the house before Fai had a chance to harass him again. Fai got to his feet, brushing the wrinkles out of his shirt, his smile still intact, and leaned back against the wall. Kurogane was so adorable when he was determined.

* * *

Kurogane stormed down the street, radiating an anger that could have fried a small rodent. Stupid Fai. Why did he have to be such an asshole all the time? The hot desert sun was doing nothing to improve his mood. People in Kurogane's path quickly moved to get out of it; even though they didn't know the ninja, they could tell that he wasn't someone they ought to screw with. Even a gang of shady-looking troublemakers crouched down, covered their heads and whimpered fearfully as he passed, not looking quite so tough with their tails firmly tucked between their legs.

Kurogane was so preoccupied that he completely missed all of this. He had two things on his mind (Fai and Fai) and as the people around him fell into neither category, he simply tuned them out. It wasn't until a melodic whistling rang throughout the otherwise silent street that Kurogane snapped out of his inattentive state to look around for the source of the noise. All the townspeople quickly rushed into the nearest shop they could find, just in case the noise somehow unleashed his fury.

It suddenly dawned on the warrior that there was no one around; neither human, nor animal. He looked around suspiciously for the source of the whistling and noticed a small yellow bird sitting on the backrest of one of the nearby benches, chirping away unconcernedly. Kurogane glared at the bird, but his anger quelled as he noticed that it seemed to be returning his gaze with something that looked strangely like a grin. Before Kurogane had time to get severely weirded out, however, he realized that he was standing only a few feet from his destination: the grocery store. Throwing one more wary glance at the still-singing bird, he went inside.

* * *

Kurogane entered the store with a purposeful stride, as though he knew exactly where he was going. In truth, he hadn't the faintest idea, but there was a teenage employee standing near the door he had come through, looking as though he were trying to find some way to be useful and Kurogane knew that if he showed any uncertainty, the kid would certainly swoop down on him and try to offer him assistance. Kurogane accepted assistance with the same attitude and willingness that one might accept an anal probe from their doctor. On top of that, this kid was giving off particularly strong waves of what Kurogane called "dumbfuck vibes". He had a feeling that just talking to him would make him want to drill a hole in his own forehead.

Once he was out of the young employee's line of sight, Kurogane slowed his pace and looked around. The shelves were lined with a multitude of foreign items, all of which claimed to be food. Kurogane bent down to take a closer look at an especially nasty-looking, squishy, green something in a jar and wrinkled his nose in disgust. He didn't care who you were or what kind of world you were from; there was no way in hell that that thing could ever be considered edible. Then he shook himself mentally; he was getting sidetracked. The less time he spent in this hellhole, the better.

After wandering around for a good ten minutes, the ninja finally found what he was looking for. He picked one of the packages off the shelf for closer inspection. Oh god. There were big pink hearts on bag. Kurogane suppressed the urge to gag and turned the package over. The item he was holding was soft and round, sort of like a rice ball. Judging by the picture on the wrapper, there was some sort of filling inside… fruit, perhaps? Well, whatever; he had the thing he had come for and now it was time for him to make like a tree and get the fuck out of there.

Kurogane made his way to the checkout aisle and set his item down on the counter so that he could pull out his wallet. The cashier was a young girl, maybe a few years older than Sakura, with poofy brown hair and she was chewing a piece of gum in a manner that made Kurogane wonder if she'd been a cow in another life. The girl grinned widely at him as she scanned his item.

"Gonna share this with yer girlfriend at the festival tonight, huh?" she asked in a lazy drawling voice.

Kurogane lifted his gaze to meet hers, an expression that would have made any normal person piss their pants set firmly on his face. But the cashier just continued to smile cheekily at him and chew her gum like a dumbass.

"Sure. Whatever," he muttered irritably when it became clear that she wasn't going to finish checking him out until she got an answer. The girl gave a high-pitched squeal of glee at this response as she punched a button on the cash register. That overly fluffy brown hair of hers was driving Kurogane nuts. He wondered vaguely if there was some sort of creature living in it. Oh, how he longed to hack open that huge mass of hair just so that he could see what kind of secrets it might be hiding.

She turned her grin back up to him as she stuffed his purchase and receipt in a plastic bag and pushed it towards him, though she kept her hand on it so that he couldn't take it from her.

"Well, if thangs don't go well with yer girlfriend tonight, you know where to find me, handsome," she said with a roguish wink, finally removing her hand from the bag.

He snorted derisively as he picked up his bag and stalked out of the store.

* * *

Fai had considered staying in bird-form to meet Kurogane when he came out of the store but he changed his mind when a cat that had been sleeping in a sun-filled window awoke and began watching him hungrily. He had lots of things on his to-do list but getting eaten was not one of them. Fai looked around to make sure no one was looking before morphing into a butterfly with golden wings. The cat that had been considering him for lunch lifted its head, its eyes suddenly wide with surprise at the disappearance of its potential meal. Failing to locate the bird that it had been watching until just a second ago, it put its head back down, sulking.

A slight whirring sound of automatic doors opening caught Fai's attention, and he grinned (only mentally, of course, because he was a butterfly and therefore lacked the necessary facial muscles to grin physically). There was Kurogane and he had a plastic sack in his hand. Fai fluttered down off the bench's backrest and drifted over toward the ninja, landing on Kurogane's arm. He began to crawl across the plane of tanned skin towards the sack, hoping to get a peek at the contents.

Just as he had nearly reached his destination, a little girl who was playing with friends nearby, spotted the beautiful golden insect and stopped what she was doing to stare covetously at it. Fai was so focused on getting into that sack that he didn't even notice the impending danger. The little girl dropped the ball she had been holding and hurried over to Kurogane as fast as her short little legs could carry her.

"Mister!" she shouted, waving to get the swordsman's attention. "Mister! Wait!"

"Aah?" Kurogane stopped, looking over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow to see who had dared to address him. When he saw the child running towards him, he turned to face her, irritated that she was holding him up.

"What do you want, kid?" he growled. "I'm in a hurry."

"Um…um…did you know that there's a butterfly on your arm?" she asked breathlessly.

Kurogane glanced down to where she was pointing and spotted Fai. His eye twitched; he didn't like butterflies. He brushed Fai away roughly and continued on his way, making a mental note to scrub his arm where the butterfly had touched him. Butterflies were one of the sissiest things in existence and he had long suspected that if he were to come in contact with one, it would defile his manliness. The child made a little noise of disappointment that Kurogane hadn't let her scoop the butterfly off of him and chased after Fai.

The wizard pouted to himself; he had been so close! Shoot; Kurogane was going into another store. A liquor store. Fai was somewhat surprised by that since Kurogane refused to let anyone in their group drink after their display in Outo Country. Fai paused for a split second before diving off the branch he had been sitting on and darting through the automatic doors after Kurogane.

He landed on Kurogane's shorts, on the back of his leg so that he wouldn't be noticed. As he was waiting for Kurogane to find the item he was looking for, Fai glanced upwards and grinned mischievously. _I think it might be time to take a little hike to the northern regions, hmm?_ Fai mused. The wizard-turned-butterfly eagerly began scaling the denim fabric, feeling very stealthy and pleased with himself. He stopped once he had reached the middle of Kurogane's butt. _This'll do, I think_, Fai thought contentedly. _Yes, this'll do just fine.

* * *

_

Kurogane felt a little better coming into this kind of store. The contents of his metaphorical cup of manliness were replenished after being slightly drained by the butterfly incident. Damn butterfly. Aisles and aisles of multicolored liquor bottles stretched out before him and he felt a little overwhelmed. Normally, having this kind of selection would have earned a smirk of approval from him but as he was looking for something specific, the vastness caused his heart to sink. A vein throbbed angrily on the ninja's forehead; he was in another one of those "needle in a haystack" situations. Damn needle in a haystack. Kurogane heaved a sigh, massaged his temples for a moment and began his search.

There the fucking thing was. Kurogane's eye twitched; figures that it would be the last bottle in the last aisle. He did manage one stroke of luck though; it was also the last bottle, the rest having been sold to others who planned on drinking the wine during the festival. Kurogane picked up the bottle, looked at it, and seriously considered putting it right back where he'd found it. Why was he cursed with such shitty luck? Printed all over the wine bottle's label were cherry blossoms and little pink hearts. He felt his metaphorical cup of manliness being drained again and sighed dejectedly.

_Just do it and get it over with_, he thought to himself. _If this stuff works, it'll all have been worth it._

Having finished his little mental pep talk, Kurogane looked up, his determination renewed and then froze. In front of him was the checkout counter and behind it sat the most giamungous man the ninja had ever seen. He looked less like a person and more like some giant alien flesh-colored gumball with a face painted on it. Kurogane was so entranced by the specimen before him that it took a moment for him to realize that he was gaping and snap out of it enough to move forward a few steps and set the bottle of wine on the counter.

The gumball-man grinned at him. "Got the last bottle, eh? You missed the violent rush earlier in the day, lucky bastard."

Kurogane grunted noncommittally as he stuck his hand in his pocket to fish out his wallet. He dug a few bills out and tossed them at gumball-man before unintentionally going back to staring at the huge stranger. Gumball-man reached for the money, and Kurogane could have sworn that he saw the bills slide across the counter and into the clerk's hand without him even laying a finger on them. Kurogane blinked. Either his eyes were just playing tricks on him, or this guy had his own pull of gravity.

"Still, you're really cutting it close, coming last minute like this… What would you've done if we didn't have any more?" Gumball-man babbled. "They say the experience isn't the same without the wine, you know."

"Spare me the lecture," Kurogane said shortly.

Gumball-man smirked. "You'll get enough of that from your girlfriend, I suppose."

Kurogane blushed, trying to grab his change from the clerk and just get out of there but the coins stuck to Gumball-man's hand. After an awkward bit of scraping, Kurogane got his change, picked up the plastic sack containing the bottle of wine and turned on his heel and was about to stalk away when Gumball-man stopped him.

"Hey… there's a butterfly on your butt."

* * *

Kurogane left the liquor store, his metaphorical cup of manliness now feeling so empty that he wondered if it might even be sucking moisture out of the air. He had tried to kill the damn insect that had dared to land on his ass. Unfortunately, the butterfly seemed to have Fai-like speed and dodging abilities and had evaded his attacks with apparent ease.

Fai, for his part, was still gloating mentally over his triumph. True, he still didn't really know what Kurogane was up to, but the enjoyment he was getting out of his antics had made up for that. He did know that the second item the ninja had bought was a bottle of wine, and judging by the amount of time he had spent looking for the exact bottle, and the ensuing conversation with the clerk, Kurogane had some sort of special plans for the things he was buying and wasn't just shopping to entertain himself.

When the clerk had seen the wine he had chosen, he had assumed that Kurogane had a girlfriend, meaning that the drink probably had romantic implications. Although Fai wasn't positive about any of these things, the possibilities made his heart pound with anticipation. Who might the ninja be planning to share it with? The group had only been here for a few days and Kurogane wasn't exactly the type who bonded with people quickly. That could only mean that he planned to share it with me, Fai reasoned hopefully.

When Kurogane had discovered Butter-Fai perched on him in the liquor store, Fai had been forced to make a quick escape. He had flown out through the door, landed on the ground and morphed smoothly into a small yellow kitten. The blond had been hot on Kurogane's trail since the moment he left the store, though Kurogane had yet to notice his presence. Fai followed the ninja to what appeared to be the heart of the town square. There was a large fountain here and Kurogane dropped heavily onto the ledge, heaving a sigh of frustration and weariness.

Kurogane heard a soft mewing from somewhere near his ankles and looked down. There sat a small yellow kitten with bright blue eyes, watching him closely. The swordsman simply stared at the animal, unsure what his reaction should be. Secretly, Kurogane had to admit that maybe he didn't completely hate cats and maybe this one was cuter than most. But just a little. _Maybe because it reminds me of that wizard?_ he wondered before he could catch himself.

The kitten hopped nimbly onto the edge of the fountain beside his newfound friend and nuzzled his head against Kurogane's hand. Kurogane looked around quickly to make sure no one was watching before starting to rub behind the kitten's ears. Fai purred loudly as he crawled into the ninja's lap and just allowed himself to enjoy the rare opportunity to receive affection from Kurogane. After a few minutes, Fai jumped over onto Kurogane's other leg, beside which sat the two bags; the one containing the wine and the other one containing…something that Fai didn't know what it was. He swatted at the plastic with his little white paw, making a crinkling sound as he tried to have a peek at its contents. To Fai's chagrin however, Kurogane picked him up sternly by his scruff just before he could get a good look.

"I don't think so, cat," he muttered. "That's not for you."

Fai mewed loudly, tilting his head as if asking for more information. Kurogane scowled at him.

"It's mine. That's all you need to know." Then he massaged his temples exasperatedly. "What the hell am I doing, talking to a damn cat?"

Fai meowed indignantly and Kurogane snorted. "What, that piss you off that I called you a damn cat?"

Fai gave an affirmative meow, causing Kurogane to shake his head in disbelief.

"Alright…it's for the festival tonight. There, you happy?"

The kitten just stared, his eyes wide. This is what Fai had been hoping to hear but now that he was actually hearing it, he could hardly believe his pointed yellow ears.

"What the hell are you looking so damn surprised for?" Kurogane growled.

Fai finally found his tiny voice and was able to squeak out a feeble "Mew?" which of course meant "with whom?"

"That's none of your goddamn business!" Kurogane snapped.

The little kitten pouted, which, if you've never seen a kitten pout, is quite a sight to see. And Kurogane, for all the odd and unique experiences he had been through, had yet to see a kitten pout, and thus was somewhat amused. Seeing that Kurogane didn't plan to give any more information, Fai decided to try getting a little more affection from the swordsman while he still had the chance. The kitten cuddled against Kurogane's chest, purring loudly. Kurogane looked around again, making absolutely certain that no one was watching, and then obligingly picked the small animal up and held it against him.

Fai closed his eyes blissfully as he continued to purr, wishing he could stay in the moment forever. This was exactly the sort of thing he had been hoping to accomplish with this wish. Fai happily licked Kurogane's cheek with his rough pink tongue until, much to his disappointment, the ninja set him down.

"Enough of this screwing around," Kurogane said, getting to his feet. "I have stuff to do."

Fai mewed desperately, begging him not to go. Kurogane ignored him, picking up the plastic bags. The kitten crouched down and sprang onto the ninja's shoulder, unintentionally using his claws to steady himself as he slipped. Kurogane didn't appreciate that very much; he gasped sharply in pain and jerked Fai off roughly, holding him up in front of his face.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you, you little bastard!" he snapped. Fai just grinned and licked Kurogane's nose. Bad move; Kurogane held him in the air by his scruff, carried him back over to the fountain, dropped him into the water and angrily stalked away.

Fai scrambled out of the water and onto the fountain's stone ledge. For once, he was glad for the hot desert sun as it warmed his wet fur. As he shook the water off of himself, Kitty-Fai looked around to see where Kurogane had gotten to. He was just starting to get worried that he might have lost his companion when he spotted the ninja's retreating back a short ways off.

Fai hopped down from the fountain's ledge and began to trot after Kurogane when he suddenly felt his feet leave the ground. He meowed in surprise, twisting his small body, attempting to get a look at his captor. It was a small boy with brown hair that was short on one side of his face and longer on the other. The boy giggled in delight as he hugged his find.

"Hey, Kazahaya kun! Don't run away like that!" called a second boy, with fair skin and dark hair. "We could've gotten separated, you idiot!"

"Rikuo kun! Look what I found!" Kazahaya said excitedly, ignoring the insult and holding up a wet and startled Fai-Kitten.

"It's a cat," Rikuo said, nonchalantly.

"Isn't it cute? I'm gonna take him home and ask my mom if I can keep him!"

Fai mewed desperately and struggled in Kazahaya's grasp. He didn't have time to become some kid's pet! He had to find Kurogane again! Fai clamped his eyes shut, thinking hard; he was strongly tempted to transform back into his normal state. He amused himself for a moment with the thought of young Kazahaya's expression of shock when his kitten suddenly changed into a tall, thin, blond wizard. But no; that would be cruel and would certainly cause all sorts of commotion. He would have to think of another way out of his predicament. The gears in Fai's head began to turn…

* * *

Thankfully for Kurogane, he had managed to get his fireworks without incident. Since his world didn't have fireworks, he had no idea what sort of things to choose. To solve this problem, he simply took one of everything that was around him and, of course, two Aiyoku sparklers; one for him and Fai, and one for Syaoran and Sakura. He was sure they would want one, too. Paying for the fireworks cleaned him out. _That damn wizard had better appreciate all this crap_, he thought sourly, stuffing his empty wallet back in his pocket.

Still, he felt a strong sense of accomplishment at having collected all the items he had set out to find. Feeling very self-satisfied, Kurogane took his list out of his pocket, crumpled it up and tossed it in the trashcan. Then, the reality of what he planned to do that night hit him and he froze. Him and Fai. Together. Alone. In the dark. It took a few moments for him to regain his composure and he headed shakily back towards the house they were staying at.

* * *

Fai managed to escape from Kazahaya and Rikuo, much to his relief. He had just turned himself into a bumblebee when Kazahaya wasn't paying attention. The poor kid had freaked. Fai felt bad about the dirty trick he had played but it had to be done. He was a wizard on the edge.

Fai's breath caught in his chest; Kurogane, by some amazing stroke of luck, was heading right for him. Without even taking time to think about it, Fai executed a brilliant idea. The wizard changed from a bumblebee into a yellow sprinkler just before Kurogane noticed that the space that Fai now occupied had been empty just a second ago. Boy, did Kurogane ever get a nasty surprise.

* * *

Kurogane was making his way back to the house at a brisk pace, though his mind was a thousand miles away. His heart was pounding, his palms were sweaty and his face was hot; every moment, the festival drew closer. He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't even notice a sporadic noise coming from somewhere just a little bit ahead of him…

When a big cold shower of water rained down upon him, however, he certainly noticed. He looked over in the direction from which the water had come and saw a sprinkler sitting out in the yard he was passing by. He had just enough time to make this realization before another wave hit him. Kurogane sputtered indignantly, wiping the water out of his eyes and sprinted out of the sprinkler's reach.

He checked his bag of fireworks then, just to make sure they hadn't gotten wet. Luckily, they were safe inside the plastic sack. Kurogane snarled in frustration at the sprinkler before continuing on his way. Suddenly, he was thankful for the blazing desert sun; surely it would help him dry off faster. He continued on his way at his quickened pace again, still feeling resentful towards whatever bastard had decided to put that damn sprinkler there in the first place.

Fai, feeling very pleased with himself once more, changed back into a bumblebee, flew past the ninja, stopping a few yards away to play his prank again. He landed in the grass and transformed into the sprinkler again. If there was one thing that he liked better than an angry ninja, it was an angry _wet_ ninja. That was his favorite flavor of Kurogane. Fai turned his water on for the second time and waited excitedly for Kurogane to pass by again.

* * *

By the time Kurogane reached his destination, he was pretty much soaked from head to toe, extremely pissed off, and found himself harboring a newfound hatred for sprinklers. In the few days that they had been in this world, he hadn't seen a single one, but today, every other yard seemed to have one. Not only that, but it was the same color and model and everything. In Kurogane's country, they had a word for that. It was "suspicious". If he didn't know better, he might have thought that the damn thing had sprouted legs and had decided to follow him.

The ninja paused at the doorstep to squeeze the excess water out of his clothes and then pushed his way inside. He shut the door behind him, turned around and nearly shit his pants; there, standing almost nose-to-nose with him, was Fai. He had his big welcome-home-Kurotan-I'm-ready-to-annoy-the-hell-out-of-you smile on his face. Fai cheered and threw his arms around his wet companion.

"Welcome home, Kuropin! What did you get, hmm? Ooh, are they presents for me?"

Kurogane pried the wizard off and pushed past him. "Yeah right," he growled. "This crap isn't for you and you'd better stay the hell out of it, if you know what's good for you."

"Uh oh," Fai trilled, clapping his hands, "Kurorin came home all grumpy! What happened, Kuronta? Oh, I know! Kurochii is in a bad mood because he got all wet. Silly Kurochii! Kitties are the ones who are supposed to hate water; not puppies!"

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU, I'M NOT YOUR GODDAMN DOG!" Kurogane snapped, brandishing an angry fist at Fai. Then he paused, frowning slightly. "Wait a minute… how come _you're_ wet?"

Fai blinked at him. Shit. He had completely forgotten about that. In all his excitement over the mischief he was causing for Kurogane, he hadn't even noticed that he still hadn't dried completely after the swordsman had dropped him in the fountain. Fai thought quickly. "Well, while you were gone… I went out to water the garden… and I've never used a hose before, so I had a bit of trouble figuring it out."

The wizard added an apologetic grin here for credibility, mentally congratulating himself on coming up with such a brilliant excuse on the spot like that. Kurogane narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but then shrugged and pushed past him again.

"Why is _Kurotan_ wet?" Fai asked cheerfully. "Did you have trouble with the hose, too?"

"No, stupid bastard," he said. "But I really don't think it's any of your damn business."

By now, Kurogane had reached his bedroom, and folded his arms, fixing Fai with a glare.

"Go away. I'm gonna take a shower."

Fai's face lit up. "I'll take one with you, Kurochan! It'll be so much fun—!"

At this suggestion, Kurogane's face darkened and his eyes gleamed maliciously.

"You try anything weird," he hissed, "and I'll kill you."

Still glaring suspiciously at Fai, Kurogane backed into the room and locked the wizard out. Fai sat down outside the door, waiting for his chance to move. The water in Kurogane's bathroom turned on and a few moments later, Fai heard the ninja step into the shower. The blond happily changed into a bright yellow ant and crawled through the gap under the door, across the bedroom carpet and under the gap beneath the bathroom door. The room was full of steam and Fai could smell the pleasant scent of Kurogane's shampoo. The Fai-ant wormed its way under the towel that Kurogane had gotten out for himself and then morphed smoothly into a towel himself. Then he waited…

* * *

Kurogane stepped out of the shower and grabbed his towel off the counter and began to dry off when a small noise outside the bathroom door caught his attention. God, if that was Fai out there, trying to sneak in and get a peek at Kurogane's merchandise… He wrapped the towel firmly around his waist; just to be safe. Then he noticed a second towel sitting on the counter that he didn't remember seeing there before. It was thick, fluffy and yellow with blue trim. Kurogane frowned at it; something about the towel seemed a bit odd…

Then he shook himself; what was up with him being so damn paranoid recently? After all, what was the towel going to do? Take a picture of him in the nude and sell it to the tabloids? It was a freaking towel, for heaven's sake! Kurogane picked it up, shook it out to its full size and started drying his hair.

* * *

_Mmm, I like this_, Fai thought as Kurogane rubbed him on his wet skin. _I like this a lot. I hope in my next life, I get reincarnated as Kuromyuu's towel.

* * *

_

Kurogane came down the stairs, the plastic sacks containing his purchases in his hand. Fai was sitting on the couch, talking to Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona, who had apparently just returned home from their jobs. When the blond spotted Kurogane, his grin widened and he jumped to his feet, looping his arms around his companion's broad shoulders and burying his face in his shirt.

"Mmm, Kuropun smells so good," Fai breathed.

Kurogane blushed furiously but remained silent. Mokona bounced over to check the situation out for himself.

"Ahh, you're right Fai!" he squeaked. "Kurogane smells so manly!"

"Freshly-washed Kurowan is my favorite smell in the whole world!"

"What the hell are you saying?" Kurogane snapped, shoving both of them off. "Cut the crap!"

"What's in the bag, Kurogane san?" Sakura asked timidly, pretending to have missed Fai's little performance.

Kurogane cleared his throat nervously, looking away as he shoved one of the bags roughly towards her. Sakura tilted her head curiously before taking the bag and looking inside. Then her face lit up.

"Oh! Are these fireworks for the festival tonight?"

"Yeah… I thought you and the brat might enjoy them… I dunno…" he shrugged, still not looking at her.

Sakura's face reddened. "F-for me and S-Syaoran kun?"

"Aww, how sweet of you, Daddy!" Fai said, clapping his hands. "You're always thinking about the children, aren't you?"

"Shut up, you," the ninja muttered.

"Ooh! Mokona saw a really good place where Sakura and Syaoran could light them off!" Mokona chirped. "It's a really romantic place!"

Both Syaoran and Sakura were beet red by now. "R-romantic!" they stammered.

"Yeah! It's perfect for love-love! Come on! We have to get there before someone else takes it!"

"Have fun, you two! I'm cheering for youuuuu!" Fai sang as he pushed the two protesting teenagers out the door with their white guide perched on the princess's shoulder.

"Well now," he said once the children had gone, "it looks like Mommy and Daddy are free to have a bit of fun together at last, hmm?"

"Aah? I don't know what you're talking about," Kurogane grunted. "I don't want anything to do with you."

"Oh really?" Fai grinned, taking the swordsman's arm. "What are these for then, I wonder?"

He held up the sacks Kurogane had brought home from his shopping trip. Kurogane's face flushed and he folded his arms defiantly. "I…I don't know anything about that stuff…"

"Well…" Fai said slowly, glancing around, "I don't see anyone else around here that it might belong to…so we might as well use them, right, Kuromin? We wouldn't want them to go to waste, would we?"

With that, the wizard grabbed Kurogane's hand and pulled him out the door.

* * *

The view from the top of their hill was breathtaking. There was one single tree perched at the top and it overlooked the town with its muted lights and sounds. The sky was clear and dark, stars twinkling overhead like diamonds. Fai sighed as he leaned against Kurogane.

"It's so beautiful here," he breathed. "Don't you think, Kurotan?"

"Hmm…" Kurogane said noncommittally.

"Why don't we start lighting off some of these fireworks?"

Fai handed Kurogane one of the rockets and a lighter. The ninja ignited the first firework and quickly stepped back. It shot into the sky and exploded with a dazzling shower of red and gold sparks which lit up the night air like luminous rain. Kurogane chanced a sidelong glance at Fai. His blue eyes were wide with wonder, reflecting the light from the firework so that they appeared to sparkle with impossibly bright colors. Kurogane couldn't help smiling slightly at his childlike reaction, though he caught himself and quickly stifled it before the blond could see, regaining his usual stoic expression.

Once the smoke had cleared, Fai turned to Kurogane, wearing one of the few truly genuine smiles the swordsman had ever seen on his face. In Kurogane's opinion, it was more breathtaking than any firework, though he would rather swallow a hand grenade than admit that to the wizard.

"Wowwww!" Fai gasped. "That was so pretty! Do it again, Daddy! Do it again!"

Kurogane sighed and rolled his eyes in a false display of exasperation before taking another firework out of the bag.

"Ooh! Kuronpyuu, what are these?" Fai asked, sitting down on the ground and pulling out the rice cake things that Kurogane had bought earlier.

"Those are…" Kurogane sat beside him and paused uncertainly. He didn't really know what they were except that they were part of the Hoshi Matsuri tradition. So he just shrugged and replied, "I dunno…When I was out getting the fireworks, I heard some people talking about them… something about them being a big part of the festival or whatever…"

Fai studied the package more closely. "It has hearts on the package! They must be meant for lovers or something, hmm? But if that's the case, then what is Kurotan doing with them, I wonder…?"

Kurogane blushed and faked outrage. "What? Let me see those damn things!"

He snatched the snack from Fai and looked at the wrapping. "Aw shit! I didn't even notice that before! If I'd seen that, I would've given 'em to the kids!"

Fai grinned slyly, taking hold of Kurogane's arm. "I see. Well, seeing as how it's a little late to give them to Sakura chan and Syaoran kun, we might as well eat them ourselves, hmm?"

He opened the package, pulled out one of the snacks and took a bite. "Mmm, this is pretty good! Here Kuromin, try some!"

Fai ripped off a piece and pushed it into Kurogane's mouth.

"Hmm, not bad," Kurogane muttered. "We had something like this in Japan…"

"Yayyyy! Kuropuu likes it!" He pulled off another piece and fed it to Kurogane before taking another bite himself. Then he moved to sit in the warrior's lap and picked up the other bag which contained the wine. "Ooh, Daddy bought some wine, too! You got this for us, right?"

Kurogane grabbed the bottle, glaring. "Wrong. No more drinking for you after what happened in Outo Country!"

"Awwww, please Kuropiko," Fai begged. "I just want a little tiny bit."

Then he looked more closely at the bottle. "Hey, the wine bottle has hearts on it too! Kuronpii can't drink it all by himself; it's meant to be shared…" Fai leaned back in the ninja's lap so he could look at him as he caressed his cheek, "…by two people that are in love."

Kurogane's blush deepened. "Don't go getting the wrong idea, bastard. The only reason I got that one is because the guy at the liquor store kept going on and on about it. I figured it must be pretty damn good if he was making such a big deal over it."

"Kuroru is so shy!" Fai giggled. "It's ok, big puppy; I already know that you got it for us to share."

Kurogane just looked away and remained silent.

"I knew it! Kuromyuu wants to share the lovey-dovey wine with me! Kuromyuu loves me—!"

"SHUT UP, BASTARD!" Kurogane roared, his face scarlet. "QUIT SAYING RETARDED THINGS! IT MAKES ME WANNA PUKE!"

Fai wasn't listening, he was too busy pouring the wine into two glasses and pushing one into Kurogane's hand. Then he clinked his glass against the ninja's.

"To Mommy and Daddy's undying love," he grinned.

Kurogane started to protest but Fai pushed another piece of the rice cake snack into his mouth to shut him up. The mage noticed, to his delight, that even after Kurogane had swallowed it, he decided not to push the matter and simply took a drink of his wine.

* * *

"Was that the last of the fireworks, Kurochuu?"

"I think so."

Fai picked up the sack that had held the fireworks. "But there's still something in the bag…"

He reached in and pulled out a long thin package. His eyes lit up like those of a little kid on Christmas morning. "Kurochan!" he breathed. "Are…are these…those Aiyoku sparklers they were talking about on the radio this morning?"

"…There was some kind of thing going on at the fireworks place where if you spend enough, they give you some free…" he lied, his face burning as though it was on fire.

Fai was already opening the package and pulling out the sparkler. Just as the radio announcer had said, it was in the form of a long stick with a handle on each side. Hands shaking slightly with excitement, Fai snapped it in half, gave part of it to Kurogane, and lit both of their pieces. Brilliant silver sparks shot out of them, illuminating their apprehensive faces. The blond tentatively touched the end of his sparkler to Kurogane's. They both held their breath. The sparks remained silver.

Kurogane looked over at Fai. His face was expressionless but his eyes betrayed him. They glistened excessively, seemingly with tears. The ninja felt his chest and throat tightening painfully, though he couldn't imagine why. It was curiously like the feeling of bitter disappointment. But he didn't understand why he would feel that way; after all, it wasn't like he wanted him and Fai to be blessed with undying love for each other…right? What was up with this sudden uncertainty? He had been worried for quite some time now that he might be falling for Fai, but he had always been able shrug it off before, tell himself that it wasn't true. More recently, however, he was having an increasingly difficult time denying it.

Finally, Fai looked up at him, still smiling like always. "I guess we weren't meant to be, hmm, Kurosama?" But Kurogane had seen that smile before, and of all Fai's smiles, it was the one he hated the most; it was the one he hid behind when he was in intense pain.

Kurogane's frown deepened but he said nothing.

After a moment, there was a sputtering sound that made them both start. They looked down at their sparklers, the ends of which were still touching. The silver sparks flickered for a second before blazing brightly, undeniably red. Both of them stared, aghast. The sparks had turned red! Red! Kurogane glanced at Fai again. His eyes still seemed to be shining with tears but the look in them was different from before. They were full of something that Kurogane rarely saw there before: hope.

To Kurogane's horror, he felt his chest and throat loosen again and his heart lift. _Don't even think about soaring, you traitorous bastard_, he told his heart mentally. _Don't. Even. Think about it._ Fai didn't look at him this time. He just continued to stare at his sparkler, his eyes wide, until it fizzled out, leaving them both in darkness. Even after their sparklers had gone out, they kept staring silently. Kurogane saw Fai quickly wipe his eyes on the back of his hand and then slowly approach him. The ninja allowed him to lean against his chest and put his long, thin arms around his shoulders.

"Thank you, Kurosama," he whispered, holding Kurogane tightly. "I can't even remember… the last time I felt this way…"

Kurogane could feel Fai's warm hands on either side of his face, caressing him timidly, as though asking permission for something. His heart pounding painfully against his ribcage, Kurogane's arms encircled the slim waist, inadvertently backing up until he could feel the tree trunk behind him. Fai's lips brushed ever so slightly against his, uncertainly at first, waiting to see if Kurogane would reject him. When the swordsman didn't push him away or try to hurt him, he seemed to gain confidence and pressed his lips firmly against Kurogane's.

His brain told him that he should be shoving Fai roughly away, drop kicking his ass to the moon, slashing him to ribbons, forcing him to sit in a Starbucks all day and all other manner of nasty, mean things for pulling something like this. His heart, however, told a different story. It was singing, actually. The song it sang was a simple melody that every child knows: "Kuro and Fai standing by a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love! Then comes marriage! Then comes a Wanko in a baby carriage!" And just to be extra irritating, his heart was soaring, just like he'd expressly told it not to, dammit.

How long they spent in each other's arms, sharing the passionate kiss, neither one of them knew. They were both so wrapped up in the moment that time seemed suspended, one joyful second captured in eternity. Finally, Fai pulled away, touching his lips pensively as he turned away from Kurogane. The ninja just stared silently, waiting for something to happen.

Kurogane didn't even notice that it had started raining until a raindrop hit his cheek, jerking him harshly back to reality. In few seconds, it escalated into a freezing downpour that hammered relentlessly against every surface, drowning out all other sounds. Kurogane was just opening his mouth to suggest that they head home when Fai suddenly dashed out into the storm.

"Hey!" Kurogane shouted after him, though his legs seemed to have suddenly lost their ability to move. "HEY!"

Fai didn't even pause or look back, he just kept running. Kurogane watched him go, his hand outstretched slightly as if to make a grab for him. He sighed heavily, lowering his hand and hanging his head to glare at the ground. For all his flaws, no one could ever accuse Kurogane of being indecisive and he had always prided himself on that. But now, here he stood, watching Fai run away from him, wondering just what the bloody hell he was going to do about the whole situation.

He supposed his decisiveness was just one more of his qualities that Fai had managed to stealthy crumble, evading the ninja's attention until it was already too late. He was certainly irritated with the magician for that, but somehow… somehow he felt that if there should be someone who could bring everything he knew to be true crashing down around him, Fai should be that person.

Kurogane snarled and pounded the trunk of the tree that was sheltering him from the rain. He could feel himself changing, and he didn't like it. He had been perfectly happy with who he was before he ever met stupid Fai. Now he was turning into some retarded push-over of a pansy. He pounded the tree again and then heaved another sigh. Whatever. He could decide what to do about that bastard later. Right now, he was getting soaked from head to toe and the rain wasn't exactly bathwater-temperature. He could actually see his breath clouding. Now even the desert was letting him down by going from its usual vaporize-your-brains hot to freezing-like-a-bitch cold. Kurogane took a deep breath, and began his mad dash for home.

* * *

Fai waited silently beneath the overhang of a grocery store, keeping his eyes open for Kurogane's dark shape along the horizon. He was frustrated with himself for running away like that after finally getting to kiss Kurogane. Now he was going to make it up to the swordsman, and himself. Fai shivered slightly, looking through the shop window at the luminous clock on the wall. Kurogane had better hurry; he wasn't going to have his power for much longer.

* * *

What the hell was going on here? There was no flipping way that it had been such a long walk to get to the place where they had lit off their fireworks. Kurogane was actually panting now, and he was by no means out of shape. Really, he supposed it was probably a good thing that he had to run so hard or else he might have been affected by the freezing water that now drenched him.

All of a sudden, he felt something with a strange slick texture brush against his ankles. Kurogane paused and looked down to discover what appeared to be a yellow rain slicker at his feet. He blinked, nonplussed, then looked around the deserted street to see if there was anyone nearby who might have lost it. There was absolutely no one around.

Kurogane picked it up uncertainly and considered it. Normally, he wouldn't have been caught dead wearing such a thing… but right now, apart from being far from dead, he was really cold and wet and still had a decent ways to go before he was home. Feeling rather stupid, Kurogane slipped the protective garment on, marveling at the fact that it seemed to be the perfect size. As soon as it was on his body, Kurogane experienced a sudden warmth sweeping through him, as though he had just taken a sip of hot tea. But there was a different kind of warmth there too; like the kind you get when you see an embarrassed sever-year-old boy give one of his little girl friends a flower. With his mind less focused on his own misery now that he had the coat, he realized that he was still holding onto a burnt match which he had used to light the last firework that he and Fai had enjoyed together. He slipped it into the coat's pocket, deciding that he would throw it away later.

He began running again, feeling some of his strength return to him. When he finally reached the house, he eased open the door and slipped inside. It was dark and everyone seemed to be in bed already. Kurogane shook the rain slicker outside to get rid of the excess water before going back in, closing the door silently behind him, removing his shoes, setting the yellow coat in one of the kitchen chairs and going to his room to change out of his wet clothes.

Once he had changed, he came back down to the kitchen to hang up the raincoat. Then Kurogane froze, there was a dark figure in the chair he had set the coat on, slumped over the table, hardly moving at all. He approached it cautiously then sighed with relief once he recognized the person sitting there. It was only Fai.

The blond was asleep in the chair, resting his head on his arms which were folded on the table. Water dripped from his hair and clothes, leaving a puddle on the floor. Kurogane frowned, noticing that the yellow raincoat was nowhere to be seen. He reached out hesitantly and put a hand on Fai's shoulder. The magician stirred slightly but didn't wake. Kurogane noticed that he was trembling.

He left Fai, heading to the bathroom to grab a towel. The ninja wrapped it around Fai's shivering form and gently scooped him up, cradling him in his arms. A small clattering sound of something falling to the floor made him look down. To his bewilderment, it was the used match that he had put in the raincoat's pocket. But the raincoat was gone…so why had it seemingly fallen out of nowhere when he had picked up Fai?

Fai moaned slightly, putting his arms around Kurogane's shoulders and snuggling against him to share the warrior's body heat. Kurogane shook his head; he could worry about missing raincoats and used matches tomorrow. He carried Fai carefully up the stairs and into his room, where he set him on the bed while he got dry clothes for him. Once he had managed to get Fai redressed, he pulled back the covers, laid the wizard down on the mattress, covered him back up and turned to leave. Before he could take more than two steps, he felt something catch on his sleeve, causing him to turn back around.

Fai was still asleep though he had grabbed Kurogane's wrist unconsciously, as if willing him to stay at his side. Kurogane paused uncertainly, and then crawled sheepishly under the sheets next to his blond companion. The mage smiled slightly in his sleep, happily cuddling up to the one who the Aiyoku sparklers had confirmed was meant just for him. Kurogane hugged him obligingly, his heart soaring once more as he too fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N: **Hee heeeeeee! Kisses for Kurotan! Soooooo, did you like it? I do hope it wasn't too long. Is 20 pages too long? I dunno… The next chapter will probably take awhile, seeing as how I don't really know what I'll have Fai use his last wish on. Suggestions are welcome. Well, that's all folks! Review, onegai shimasu! 


	7. You're Only Young Twice

**A/N:** Surprise! The last chapter is finished! Hurray! I played around with lots of different ideas for this one… I thought about having Kurogane find the lamp in Fai's room and use the last wish to get revenge on Fai for all his dirty tricks, and I thought about giving Fai mind-reading powers and I thought about having Kuro and Fai switching bodies… but actually, this idea has been formulating in the back of my mind for a really long time now, though I wasn't sure where I'd use it. And now, here it is! Enjoy the final chapter of I Dream of Kuropii!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**You're Only Young Twice**

Fai opened his eyes and blinked a few times at the total darkness that met him. Where was he? Beneath his body, he could feel the soft smooth texture of the sheets on his bed but his intuition told him beyond it lie a vast expanse of nothingness. He was just beginning to get a little worried when something soft and warm touched him cautiously around the waist. It felt pleasant against his chilled skin. Upon closer exploration, he found them to be someone's hands. They were a decent bit larger than his own and peppered with what seemed to be calluses and scars from years of hardship and perilous battles. Fai's heart skipped a beat; he thought he knew whose hands they were, though he wasn't certain.

The blond rolled over to face his mystery companion, moving his own hands up the arms which so longed to embrace him but seemed hesitant to do so. It was too dark for him to see who was lying next to him, even though he could tell that their faces were but an inch or so from each other. His fingers traced their way up, moving over impressive amounts of rock-hard muscle, the gentle rise of a collar bone, up the side of the neck until they reached the other person's hairline. He was sure of it now. He recognized the awkward embrace, the beautifully constructed form of the sole reason his life hadn't crumbled into irreparable ruin by now: Kurogane.

Fai drew a slow breath which shook with joy and excitement and moved closer. Kurogane's uncertainty seemed to be eased by the act of approval and his strong tan arms encircled the slim waist. Fai leaned into the embrace, his soft, perfect lips exploring the ninja's cheek and neck. When their mouths finally found each other, they united passionately. With each kiss, both seemed to desire the next even more hungrily. Fai's heart soared joyfully, his mind blissfully blank as he at last acted on the impulses he had been trying for so long to suppress. It was paradise. It was heaven. It was—

"Oi! Magician! Wake up!" _Bang bang!_

—only a dream. _Fuck._ Fai put his head under the pillow to block out the harsh hammering on his door. Nooooo! Go away loud noises! If it didn't stop soon, he would wake up and the dream would be lost to a place from which it might never return. But the pounding didn't stop. In fact, it simply got more impatient until the intruder just decided to kick the door open. That was the real Kurogane, and boy was he ever pissed.

* * *

Kurogane had just finished putting everything in the coffeemaker and gotten himself a cup from the cabinet when Sakura turned to him with her usual (vacant) smile on her face and cheerfully did the nastiest thing she had ever done to the swordsman; she asked him if he would mind going upstairs to wake Fai because his breakfast was ready. Kurogane's eye twitched and he had an almost overwhelming desire to make a gnarly, mean face at her and tell her that, yes, actually, he did mind so you'd better send the brat up there to do it if you want to live to taste those scrambled eggs you're making.

However, to his disgust, he found himself unable to do this to Sakura, proving once again that the most feared ninja in all of Japan was turning into a sissy little pansy boy. What the hell was wrong with him? Next thing you knew, he'd be doing something really, _really_ retarded like secretly hugging kittens. _Hey_, his mind had piped up as he was climbing the stairs, _you already did that, remember?_ At that point, Kurogane almost curled into a fetal position right there and devoured his own legs in self disgust.

"Oi, Magician, wake up," he ordered, pounding loudly on the door.

There was no reply. He hammered even harder, but to no avail. Eventually, he just kicked the door open, glaring into the dimly-lit room. As his eyes fell upon Fai's shape beneath the covers, his breath caught in his chest, remembering how angelic and innocent the mage's sleeping face looked… Then he realized how disgustingly mushy his thoughts were, promptly gave his own mind a harsh mental pummeling, and knelt down to arm himself with some dirty balled-up socks that littered the bedroom floor. He hurled the first sock at the moaning, writhing form under the covers. Fai rolled over but didn't sit up or show any sign that he was planning to do so. Kurogane tossed another sock at him. "Hey! Didn't you hear me, lazy-ass wizard! Get up!"

"Nnnngh… five more minutes, Daddy…" Fai groaned, waving a hand dismissively at the ninja.

"I don't think so, bastard," Kurogane growled, whipping another sock at his head. "You're getting up right now or I'm really gonna get pissed off."

Fai sat up slowly, and stared tiredly at him, rubbing his eye. "Daddy's so grumpy in the morning. You should be happy! Look at how nice it is outside!"

Kurogane snorted. "I don't give a damn if it's nice outside; just freaking get up."

"How cute; Daddy can't wait to start spending the day with me so he wanted to get me up right away," Fai grinned as he stretched his arms.

Kurogane huffed indignantly and stomped out of the room. He made it about halfway down the stairs when Fai called to him, making him stop.

"Wait Kurotan!" he called, appearing at the top of the steps, pulling a clean shirt over his head. "I want a piggyback ride!"

The warrior snorted and continued his downward climb. "You can carry your own ass downstairs. Quit acting like a little kid."

"…If I were a little kid, would Kuropon give me as many piggyback rides as I wanted?" Fai asked slowly, his expression thoughtful.

Kurogane turned around to look at him, partially amused and partially suspicious. After considering him for a moment, he smirked. "Sure. You become a five-year-old, and I'll give you as many piggyback rides as you can stand." He continued down the stairs, shaking his head with disbelief. After all, he was fairly certain that it would be impossible for Fai to regress back to his youth. _Fairly_ certain. He looked back over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Fai had a disconcerting ability to achieve the damn-near-impossible, a skill which he seemed to have been exercising quite a bit recently. The wizard had that all-too-innocent smile on his face again, and admittedly, it unnerved Kurogane a bit. "Ok, Kurochuu…but remember, you promised."

* * *

"So, we've got the whole day to ourselves, hmm?" Fai said cheerfully, rubbing his hands together. "Just me and Kurowanwan, all alone, with no one to interrupt our fun."

"Whatever you're planning—" Kurogane began threateningly until Fai cut him off by sitting in his lap and putting one arm around his shoulders.

"Have you tried these eggs that Sakura chan made? They're delicious!" the mage chirped. "Here, see for yourself, Kuropii."

With that, Fai scooped a big of egg off his own plate and stuck it into Kurogane's mouth. The ninja choked and swallowed it quickly.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!" he roared. "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME, YOU BASTARD!"

"Now, now, Kuropiko," Fai said lightly, dismissing the protests with a wave of his hand, "if Daddy doesn't get the proper nutrition by himself, then someone else will have to help him. We can't have Kuropyon getting all malnourished when we all depend on him to provide for the family, now can we?"

"I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF, DAMMIT! I SURE AS HELL DON'T NEED HELP FROM YOU!" Kurogane raged, pounding the table with his fist. "I'M NOT YOUR DAMN BABY!"

Fai grinned mischievously and ran his hand through the ninja's hair. "You're right, Kuronyan; you're not a baby. You're the daddy."

Kurogane looked at him suspiciously. "And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing," the blond said innocently. "Nothing at all…"

* * *

Kurogane looked up from his magazine, irritated. Someone was making a loud, obnoxious noise and whoever it was needed to die. Now. Judging by the sound of it, it was a young child. Whether it was laughing or crying, he couldn't tell for sure but it was really pissing him off. He put down his magazine and got to his feet. He'd give that kid something to really cry about.

Kurogane closed his eyes, listening carefully, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from and attempting to feel out an aura. The noise seemed to get louder as he approached the stairs. He climbed them silently, becoming steadily more certain that the child was somewhere on the second floor of the house. This confused him deeply. How could a kid have gotten past him and all the way up the stairs without him even noticing? Kurogane's pride flared up defensively. It was simply impossible for some drooling little toddler to have snuck past _him_, the best ninja in all of Japan.

Then he became a little unnerved; if the kid hadn't walked in through the front door, then that could only mean that it had flown in through one of the upstairs window. And what kind of freak baby knows how to fly? Several possibilities came to mind: vampires, demons, dragons…cupids. Kurogane blinked, realizing that he was already standing outside the door, on the other side of which was the maker of the annoying sound. Coincidentally, he noticed that it was Fai's room he was standing outside of. He sighed, leaning heavily against the wall. Why was it that when something weird was going on, Fai always seemed to be involved somehow?

Kurogane swallowed hard, one hand on the doorknob, his other on the hilt of his sword, bracing himself for the horror that awaited him inside the room. But dear lord, if it was a cupid in there, he was going to grab it by its stubby little wings and kick its fat baby ass right back out the window where it came from. Everyone knows that cupids only appear for one reason and that is to make people fall in love with each other. Personally, Kurogane would rather die. Resisting the urge to gag, he whipped open the door.

Oh god. There it was. Sitting right there on the bed. DEMON BABY! AAAAAARGH! And what a gruesome sight it was, giggling manically, blood dripping down its face and staining its white clothes… Then Kurogane shook himself out of his weird day-nightmare and took a good look at what really lay before him. It was, indeed, a child, but upon calmer inspection, it became clear that it wasn't a demon. Actually, he found himself gazing at a little boy, probably no older than four, with fair skin, smooth golden hair which would have obscured his vision if he hadn't had it brushed it off to the side, and most notably, large, round, impossibly blue eyes.

Kurogane didn't spend much time around kids but this boy was easily the most beautiful child he had ever seen. If he would have been anyone else, he would have snatched that kid up and hugged him and pinched his little round cheeks. And if anyone tried to take the beautiful creature from him, he would get rid of them by biting onto their finger and refusing to let go until they surrendered…or until their finger came off in his mouth. Whichever one came first.

But he was not anyone else. He was Kurogane. So, he did what Kurogane did best: he stood there and looked really mean and vicious. The red stuff that he had initially mistaken for blood running down the boy's face actually came from a red marker which he held in his pudgy little hand. By the looks of things, the kid had been trying to recreate the Mona Lisa on the bedroom wall but had gotten bored and decided he would rather have the marker for lunch instead.

The two of them just stared at each other for a moment until at last the child spoke up.

"Lookit," he said, grinning widely and holding up his marker. Kurogane's eye twitched.

"YOU STUPID KID! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, COLORING ON THE GODDAMN WALL! LOOK, YOU GOT RED CRAP EVERYWHERE! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK IS GONNA HAVE TO CLEAN THAT UP, HUH!" the ninja roared. He stopped yelling, breathing hard, his angry red eyes boring into the child's sparkling blue ones. To Kurogane's horror, the boy's lip began to curl and tremble, his eyes filling up with tears…

"Oh shit…" he muttered. Then the waterworks started.

* * *

Kurogane's ears were pounding from the boy's relentless wailing. This is exactly why he didn't like kids. He had grudgingly washed the red marker from the child's face and was now trying every trick he could think of to get the damn kid to stop crying. Nothing was working. He was now frantically searching the refrigerator and freezer for something he could stuff in the kid's mouth. Finally, he found what he had been looking for: a Popsicle.

"Here," he growled, ripping off the wrapper and shoving it into the boy's hands. The child stopped crying and looked over the cold treat with interest before putting it cautiously into his mouth.

Kurogane slumped against the wall, closed his eyes and sighed with relief. _Finally_. He opened one scarlet eye to watch the kid with his Popsicle. He was sucking on it happily, sticky purple juice dripping down onto his hands. Kurogane ran a hand backwards through his dark hair. Now the kid would have to be washed again. Damn it. Children should be born with faucets coming out of their foreheads. It would certainly be more convenient since they seemed to need washing every five seconds. Once they got older and no longer needed the constant water supply, it could just fall off or something.

The ninja brought his musings to an abrupt halt when he noticed that he was being studied. Junior was watching him curiously as he continued to enjoy his Popsicle.

"What the hell do you think you're looking at?" Kurogane growled.

The boy giggled at this display of anger, causing more purple juice to drip down onto his hands from the corners of his mouth. Kurogane groaned and attempted to merge his skull with the plaster wall. Freaking nasty.

"What'f youw name?" the child asked. Apparently, he hadn't quite mastered the skill of pronouncing the "r" or "s" sounds and chose to replace them with "w" and "f" sounds instead.

"Uh…Kurogane," he replied. Then he squinted at the boy suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"My name is Fai D. Fwowite. My weal name is pwetty long, fo you can just fay 'Fai'. I'm fwom Celef. It's weally cold thewe, you know."

"Alright, alright," Kurogane interrupted. "I asked for your name, not your freaking life story… Wait a minute…_what _did you just say your name was?"

"Fai. F-A…ummm…" The child paused, trying to remember the last letter in his name.

Kurogane, however, wasn't listening. As soon as the boy had said Fai, Kurogane's mind erupted. His brain was spinning with confusion, only one question seemingly able to penetrate his numb consciousness: _What the_ hell How could this little kid be Fai? Was it just coincidence that he happened to have the same name and looked a lot like him? Could it just be this world's version of Fai? No, that couldn't be. He'd said he was from Celes and that was definitely the name of Fai's home world.

Then, there was the kid's aura. It looked really strange; a thin layer of sunshine-yellow on the surface, a thick layer of deep, dark navy blue that filled almost all the remaining space and practically bubbled with loneliness and self-loathing, and then in the very center, a little ball of the same sunshine-yellow that coated the outside. The small yellow core strove to shine through the layer of darkness but it flickered and sputtered as though just existing was an exhausting battle. Kurogane had only seen an aura like this in one other person, and that belonged to his magical blond traveling companion. The kid must be telling the truth then…he must really be Fai. All the evidence confirmed it. Now the only thing that remained to be discovered was _how_?

Fai had finished his Popsicle and was now looking around for a nice, white surface where he could leave little sticky purple handprints for someone else to find. Luckily, Kurogane noticed this and awkwardly picked him up around the middle. Wow, did this ever feel weird. He tried not to think of the boy as the Fai he knew while he washed melted Popsicle off his hands and face but he couldn't help it. Somehow, Fai had found a way to make himself young again, and Kurogane just knew that the older Fai was somehow watching this and laughing his scrawny ass off. _I'll get you for this, you bastard,_ he thought bitterly._ Just you wait.

* * *

_

"Kuwotan! Let'f play hide and feek, ok? Not it!" Fai declared, raising his hands in the air. Then he broke into a fit of giggles. "That meanf you have to be 'it' Kuwowin!"

Kurogane tried to ignore him and just read his magazine but it was proving to be easier said than done. Little Fai had his hands on the swordsman's knee and was jumping up and down excitedly. "Count to thiwty, ok, Kuwopun? And no peeking!"

"Forget it, kid," Kurogane muttered through gritted teeth. "I'm not playing."

Fai pouted, continuing to bounce on Kurogane's knee. "But why not?"

"Look, I'm not your damn babysitter, alright!" he snapped. "Go find someone else to bother and just leave me alone!"

"But thewe'f no one elf hewe…" Fai said slowly.

"Then go play by yourself," Kurogane replied shortly.

He could see Baby Fai staring at him with pleading eyes out of the corner of his vision but kept his attention fixed stubbornly on the magazine. When he realized he wasn't going to get any other response out of Kurogane, Fai sighed heavily with frustration and stomped out of the room, his little round cheeks puffed up indignantly. The boy had only been gone about five minutes when Kurogane finally looked up. He hadn't expected Fai to actually listen to him. Now that he was gone, it seemed oddly quiet. The ninja looked around suspiciously. Fai was only ever quiet when he was up to no good.

Grudgingly, he got to his feet and began to look for the little blond, though he didn't call for him. He was already swallowing enough of his pride by looking for him and he didn't want to draw Fai's attention to it if he could avoid it. He searched every room in the house, upstairs and down. To his dismay, Fai was nowhere to be found. He went back and rechecked the rooms more carefully, peeking under beds, behind doors and between couch cushions (hey, you never knew with Fai).

Kurogane was just starting to get really worried when finally he pulled open the closet in Syaoran's bedroom. There, in the back corner, all crouched down, sat Fai. When he saw the ninja looking at him, his little face broke into an adorable smile. Kurogane suppressed a sigh of relief and just glared.

"Kuwowun came to find me!" Fai cheered. He climbed out of the closet. "Now it'f Kuromin'f tuwn to hide!"

"Now look, you," Kurogane said sternly, folding his arms, "I didn't come looking for you because I wanted to play. I just had to make sure you weren't doing anything stupid."

Fai tilted his head to one side, thinking, and then giggled behind his hand as though he had just taken a crap in someone's shoe and was waiting for them to find it.

"And what the hell is so damn funny?"

"Kuwochan doefn't want to play 'caufe he knowf he'll lose."

A vein throbbed angrily on Kurogane's forehead. Fai may have been quite young, but he had still cleverly managed to touch a nerve; Kurogane absolutely hated to lose at anything.

"Yeah right!" he snapped, his hands balling themselves into fists at his side. "As if I could ever lose to a kid! Just wait, you little bastard! I'll kick your ass!"

"Kuwochuu changed hif mind then, huh? Ok then, I gueff I'll go count."

Kurogane's crimson eyes burned angrily into the child's back as he left the room to begin counting. He'd put that little punk in his place.

* * *

Six or so rounds of hide and seek later, Kurogane was really starting to hate the game. He had thought that being a ninja would give him an edge over the small blond but that edge had been dulled by his disadvantage in size. There really weren't that many places in the house that could accommodate someone who was over six feet tall. To one who was barely three feet in height, however, the house was a virtual goldmine of hiding places. Fai could squeeze into seemingly impossible spots and leave Kurogane guessing for quite a while. The ninja was actually losing and it made him hate the world and every organism that had ever dared to exist in it. Imagine, a ninja losing at hide and seek to a baby! He pounded the wall in frustration.

"How the hell do you always find me so fast?" he demanded. "You must be cheating!"

Fai laughed and hugged his older playmate's leg affectionately. "I can find Kuwonpyuu 'caufe I want to. I feel lonely when you'we not with me, Kuwomyuu."

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL!" Kurogane shouted, waving a fist threateningly. "YOU'RE CHEATING, AREN'T YOU, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"

Then he sighed and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Whatever. I hate that damn game, anyway."

"If Kuwonta if tiwed of playing hide and feek, then why don't we go to the playgwound?" Fai suggested, pulling Kurogane's hand as he tried to lead him to the door.

"Are you freaking serious?" he spat. "No way in hell am I taking a cheating little brat like you to the damn playground."

Fai looked up at him pleadingly, his bright blue eyes looking hurt. When he saw that Kurogane seemed resolute, he let go of the swordsman's hand and hung his head. Kurogane broke into a sweat; he was pretty sure he knew what was coming and he sure as hell didn't like it. Sure enough, Fai's bottom lip began to curl and his eyes filled with tears. Kurogane clapped a hand to his forehead, gritting his teeth, and then took Fai's hand and pulled him sullenly towards the door. The kid owed him big time now; Kurogane hated parks.

* * *

"When we get to the pawk, Kuwokuwo haf to push me on the fwingf, ok?" Fai said, clinging to Kurogane's arm.

"Don't count on it," Kurogane replied dryly. Fai had stopped crying the moment Kurogane had agreed to take him to the park and the ninja was annoyed. The little snot was probably just faking it to get his way. That was another reason he didn't like kids: they were all spoiled rotten and just had to produce a couple tears in order to get exactly what they wanted.

"Kuwopii, I'm tiwed of walking," little Fai whined. "Give me a piggyback wide."

"Not a chance in hell!" he snapped. All of a sudden, a memory of something that had happened earlier that day floated to the surface of his consciousness. _…If I were a little kid, would Kuropon give me as many piggyback rides as I wanted? _And like a fucktard, he had answered _sure, you become a five-year-old and I'll give you all the piggyback rides you can stand._ God, was he ever flamingly retarded! Seriously, of all the moronic replies… Kurogane sighed heavily and crouched down low enough for Fai to climb onto his back.

"Yaay!" Fai giggled as he clamored on. "Go, howsey! Go!"

Kurogane snarled under his breath, trying to ignore the child who was bouncing up and down energetically on his back.

"Fastew howsey! Wun! Wun!"

"You'll shut your damn mouth right now if you wanna live to see the freaking playground," Kurogane hissed threateningly.

"Daddy lookf a wittle bit angwy," Fai pointed out happily. Then he closed his eyes, looped his short little arms around Kurogane's neck and rested his warm little cheek on the swordsman's shoulder. "Well, I gueff I could juft hold on to Kuwopipi like thif fow a while…"

Kurogane said nothing, hoping that the child wouldn't notice his blush from where he was. Fai grinned silently, opting not to mention the ninja's brightly burning ears. Even though Kurogane seemed to get flustered increasingly easily when they spent time together, the magician didn't think that seeing him blush would ever lose its novelty.

Kurogane dropped little Fai once they reached the park, causing the boy to land flat on his butt.

"That waf mean, Kuwowanwan!" he whined as he got to his feet and brushed the woodchips from his pants.

"As if I cared," Kurogane muttered, shaking his head slightly.

"C'mon, Daddy," Fai trilled, pulling on the leg of his companion's shorts, "let'f go play on the fwingf!"

The ninja sighed heavily, allowing himself to be dragged over to the swing set. With some difficulty, Fai seated himself in a swing right next to another little boy who was being pushed by his mother.

"Push me af high af you can, ok, Kuwotan?" the mage grinned.

"Yeah, yeah… whatever…" He gave Fai a halfhearted push.

"I faid af high af you can!" Fai urged, then he grinned mischievously. "Unleff Kuwopun if getting too old for thif fort of thing…"

"_Too old_?" Kurogane shouted incredulously, instantly taking the bait. "I'll show _you_ 'too old', you little bastard!"

He grabbed the chains on Fai's swing, pulling him backwards into the air and then shoving it and its precious cargo as hard as he possibly could. The blond squealed with delight as his swing flew forward and then upside-down when it looped over the top support beam several times. The mother who was standing beside him and pushing her child on the swing laughed nervously.

"Oh, he's adorable," she commented. "Is he yours?"

Kurogane glanced at her, an eyebrow raised. "Uhh…no."

"So you're just watching him for the day, then? That's nice of you."

He shrugged, giving Fai another push.

The mother watched the mage shriek with laughter every time Kurogane gave him a push, looking a bit shocked when he sang "Kuwomyuu's touching my butt! Kuwomyuu's touching my butt!"

Kurogane's face turned crimson at the accusation. "Shut the hell up, dumb ass! I am not!"

"H-how old is he?" the lady stammered, trying to break up the awkwardness.

"Hell if I know," Kurogane replied shortly. "Maybe…twenty-two?"

She looked puzzled. "Really? Twenty-two months?"

"Twenty-two _years_," he corrected, not even bothering to look at her. She continued to stare at him as though she thought he was lying but wasn't quite sure.

"Highew Daddy! Highew!" Fai cheered.

"I thought you said he wasn't yours?" the woman said, frowning slightly.

"Trust me lady, if he was mine, he'd be dead," Kurogane growled. "He's just calling me that to piss me off, the little shit."

The mother continued to stare at him, horrified. When she finally composed herself, she made a show of looking at her watch. "Oops, look at the time! C-come on, Takeshi. We have to go home now."

"But I don't wanna go home!" her black-haired child whined.

"We can stop at the ice cream store on our way home, ok honey? Come on, we're going to be late."

The little boy clapped his hands joyfully and hopped off the swing with out another complaint.

"Well, um…g-goodbye," she smiled apprehensively, taking Takeshi by the hand and quickly leading him away.

"Now look, Kuwowin! You fcawed them off!" Fai scolded lightly. Then he said "hey, I wanna get fome ife cweam too, ok Daddy?"

Without waiting for an answer, he jumped down and started running towards the ice cream store they had passed on their way to the park. Kurogane snarled and took off after him. Fai didn't even bother to look both ways before dashing into the street right in front of a semi. The ninja could have sworn he felt his heart stop and he seemed to see the terrifying scene in slow motion. Fai noticed the semi heading straight for him and increased his speed. The driver of the truck didn't beep his horn or even slow down, he just raced on carelessly.

Fai looked at the face of the driver and froze, an expression of shock and terror on his face. He recognized the person driving the semi instantly. How could he not? The face was the one that had constantly haunted his dreams for years now, whose cold eyes struck fear into his heart every time he remembered them, whose laughter echoed in his head, sending shivers down his spine. Ashura was behind the wheel. There was no doubt that he saw Fai; he was looking him straight in the eye, that ever-present cold smile on his face as he hurtled on toward him.

Just before the deadly impact, Fai felt something else collide with him; something that flew in from the side. It shielded him, knocking him out of the way just in time to avoid becoming another bug on the windshield. When he hit the ground, all the air was knocked right out of him, though through a gap in the thing that had saved him, he could see the semi continue on its way, completely unconcerned. He heard a sharp intake of breath through clenched teeth and turned his attention to his rescuer. Kurogane was holding him tightly to his chest, gasping in pain from the large nasty-looking scrapes on his forearms from where they had taken the fall.

He jumped to his feet and grabbed Fai by the lapels, lifting him easily off the ground.

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING! YOU DIDN'T EVEN WATCH WHERE YOU WERE GOING! YOU JUST RAN RIGHT OUT INTO THE GODDAMN ROAD! YOU KNOW YOU WOULD'VE BEEN KILLED IF I HADN'T BEEN HERE TO SAVE YOUR SORRY ASS? HUH? DID YOU EVEN THINK OF THAT, DIPSHIT! DID YOU! DID YOU!" Kurogane roared, shaking Fai harshly as he spoke. Fai refused to meet his eyes, keeping his gaze fixed determinedly on the ground.

Disgusted, the ninja dropped the boy and turned his attention to his injuries. As soon as he had been released, Fai started running again; as hard and fast as he could. Though Kurogane shouted after him, he didn't even spare a backwards glance, his mind set on reaching the house. His stupidity had nearly cost Kurogane his life, and now he was injured because of him. Fai felt sick with guilt. He hated the semi, he hated its driver, he hated the scared, angry tone in Kurogane's voice as he had verbally ripped into him, but most of all, he hated himself for being so careless and stupid.

* * *

Kurogane was usually pretty sure of himself. He knew what he wanted, how he was going to get it, and where he stood on most issues. Because of this certainty, it was rare that he did something he ended up regretting later. Right now, however, was one of those rare times. The angry words he had screamed at Fai echoed in his head, the memory of Fai's terrified pale face flashed across his mind and as he headed for home, he was starting to think that maybe he had been a little too harsh on the boy.

He had certainly had a reason, though. After all, Fai had nearly gotten them both killed because of his carelessness and now Kurogane had a large, badly stinging scrape on both forearms. He gritted his teeth as he studied the wounds. They had dirt and little bits of gravel in them, blood dripping down his wrists and off his fingers, leaving a small trail of red droplets behind him. He would need to get them washed out quickly or he risked receiving a nasty infection.

When he finally reached the house, Kurogane had a difficult time opening the door without getting blood on the handle. Once he managed that, he removed his shoes at the entryway and headed straight for the bathroom to wash out his injuries. The ninja ground his teeth as the cold water from the bathtub's faucet rushed over the scrapes. Then he studied them again. The washing had managed to get rid of most of the dirt but there were still a few little bits of gravel embedded in his skin. He sighed heavily; these would have to be dug out by hand. Kurogane located the first aid kit in the cabinet under the sink and began the slow, painful work of dressing his wounds.

* * *

Kurogane tapped gingerly on Fai's closed bedroom door. He had finished getting himself all bandaged up and the pain had lessened some, but only slightly. When there was no reply, he slowly opened the door and looked around. Fai wasn't anywhere to be seen. He pushed the door open a little farther and invited himself in. The swordsman had hardly taken three steps when the sun coming in through the window caused something on one of the shelves to glitter, catching his eye.

He approached it curiously, noticing the way it had been hastily shoved between some books as though some one had tried to hide it before it was seen. It seemed to be made of brass, with some faded symbols scratched into the side. He squinted at its dull exterior, rubbing at the inscription as he tried to make it out. Kurogane dropped it in surprise when it began to smoke and shake and backed away, his hand drifting instinctively to his sword's handle. The smoke slowly faded away to reveal a tiny girl with a curled purple ponytail and exotic pink clothing. She smiled cheerfully at him.

"Hello, Master's Scary Friend! I'm glad to finally meet you! My name is Sumomo! How do you do?" she chirped, bowing low.

"…What the hell…?" Kurogane muttered, crouching down to have a closer look. "Who are you and what the hell are you doing here? And why did you call me "Master's Scary Friend"? My name is Kurogane."

"Hello, Master's scary friend, Kurogane! My name is Sumomo! I'm a genie!"

"Genie? What the hell is a genie?"

"We grant our master's wishes… well, we're supposed to, but I'm not very good yet so all I can do is give my master magical powers for a day. I know it's not that amazing but Master Fai said it was ok, so…"

"NOW WAIT JUST ONE DAMN MINUTE! YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT THAT TALL SKINNY GUY IS YOUR MASTER?" Kurogane shouted incredulously.

"Kyaaaaa! Scaryyyyy!" Sumomo wailed, throwing herself to the ground and sheltering her head with her arms.

Kurogane took several deep breaths, trying to calm down and absorb this shocking bit of information. "How…how many wishes does he get to make?"

"Usually, we only grant three, but since I still have some work to do before I can become a real genie, I decided I should make up for inabilities by granting five wishes instead. Master has already used all his wishes, so I can leave now, but I didn't want to go without saying goodbye to Master," she explained.

Kurogane took her words in, suddenly feeling numb all over. This certainly explained a lot about what had been happening for the past few days…

"I'm glad I got to meet Master's scary friend before I left," Sumomo continued. "Master talks about you all the time so I knew you must be someone very special to him."

"What? He…he talked about me?" Kurogane said dumbly. "What did he say?"

"Well… he said that the reason that he chose the wishes that he made was because he wanted to play with you. When I asked Master why he didn't just ask you to play, he said that it was because you would get mad at him. That's why he had to use magic, so that he could have fun with you without you knowing. He also said, umm… he was hoping that by using his powers, he could finally make a perfect moment where he could let you know how he felt about you."

Kurogane stared blankly at her, his mind blank and frozen. He knew he should be feeling something significant at hearing this news but he was at a total loss as to what that should be. "…And…did he say…how he felt…?"

Sumomo frowned slightly, then shook her head. There was another moment of silence between the two of them before the ninja got to his feet and swiftly left the room to find the wizard.

* * *

Fai jumped when he heard the door being pushed open but didn't turn around. He was sure he knew who his visitor was, and he wasn't ready to face him yet. It seemed like he should have some explanatory speech ready before talking to Kurogane in order to justify his actions but so far, he had nothing. But he knew the warrior wouldn't let him off the hook that easily. So he took a deep, steadying breath, gripping the blankets he lay on top of tightly for reassurance and prepared to take what Kurogane had come to dish out.

* * *

Fai was in Kurogane's room, lying on the bed with his back to the door when the ninja finally located him. Kurogane paused for a second, collecting himself before entering the room and taking a seat on the edge of his bed.

"Hey," he said gruffly, "what are you doing in here?"

Fai didn't answer.

"You hiding out?" Kurogane asked. "Feeling sorry for yourself?"

Fai was biting his lip now, trying not to cry. He felt so guilty for what he had done, for what he had nearly done to Kurogane, that he couldn't possibly put it into words. Yet here he was being accused of feeling sorry for himself. Was that the kind of person Kurogane took him for? Some kind of ungrateful, self-centered asshole? Fai was cut deeply by the thought. Still, he absolutely refused to let the tears fall.

Kurogane sighed and rested his hand on the child's shoulder. "Look… I'm…I'm sorry I yelled at you like that, alright? I was just…" he caught himself there, just before admitting that he had been absolutely terrified for Fai's life. He still had his pride to consider, after all. "…You almost got yourself killed, you know that?"

"I'm fowwy," Fai whispered.

"Huh?" Kurogane said.

The little blond sat up, paused uncertainly, and then threw himself at his companion, hugging him as tight as he could in his short arms. "I'm fowwy, Kuwochan," he repeated, a little louder. "I'm fowwy."

Kurogane said nothing, but put his hand on Fai's back soothingly. He could tell that his regret for what he had done was sincere. Fai let go of him after a moment, turning his attention to the bandages that were wrapped around the ninja's arms. His tiny fingertips skimmed them lightly and he finally looked Kurogane in the eye.

"Doef it huwt, Kuwochuu?" he asked quietly.

Kurogane blushed slightly and looked away. "It's nothing."

Fai continued to stroke his injured arm ever so gently. Kurogane's first reaction was to flinch at the contact but he realized to his astonishment that it magician's touch actually felt good. "Can…can I kiff it bettew?"

Kurogane stared at him, his eyes widening slightly in surprise at the request. Then he looked away again, his blush returning even brighter than before.

"…Whatever…"

Fai hesitated slightly, then carefully touched his little pink lips to both of Kurogane's arms. As if by some sort of miracle, Kurogane felt the pain melt away almost completely, although he could tell that the injuries were still there. The corners of the angry ninja's mouth turned upwards ever so slightly as he looked down at the child whose pure and tender love was willing him to heal. Maybe, just maybe, he didn't mind kids so much after all.

* * *

Sakura, Syaoran and Mokona had arrived home from work by the time Kurogane and Fai came downstairs. Sakura had started supper and the other two were assisting her. When the princess's eyes fell on Kurogane, she smiled brightly at him.

"Hello Kurogane san. Where is…" the she gasped loudly, clapping a hand to her mouth as she noticed Fai, "Fai san!"

Syaoran and Mokona looked over to see what all the commotion was about and they too reacted with shock.

"What…What happened to Fai san?" Syaoran asked frantically. Little Fai smiled cheerfully up at them all.

Kurogane shrugged. "The bastard dragged me out shopping today and we were looking at this place that was selling charms and crap. There was this one charm that was supposed to make you young again, and the guy at the store told him not to touch it but the dumb ass didn't listen," he lied easily. Everyone else stared at him with wide, round eyes, including Fai, who certainly hadn't had any part in cooking up this story. "The guy said it should wear off by morning. Then he'll be back to his normal, idiotic self."

Mokona, Sakura and Syaoran all sighed with relief.

"I'm so glad," Syaoran laughed nervously, putting his hand to his heart.

Sakura crouched down to get on Fai's level, giggling as she stroked his smooth blond hair. "And just look at how cute he is!"

"Almost as cute as Mokona!" Mokona cheered. He hopped into Fai's waiting arms and nuzzled against him. "Cute baby Fai!"

"Ah! Sakura hime! I think it's burning!" Syaoran gasped, waving her over to the stove. Sakura squeaked nervously and ran over to check the food.

* * *

Fai giggled excitedly as he ran into his bedroom and threw himself onto the bed. Kurogane followed him sullenly, not looking overly pleased about the tasks he had ahead of him, though his attitude was only for show. The blond bounced happily on the bed, his oversized nightshirt (actually, it was a t-shirt of Kurogane's) falling easily past his feet, and scampered up to the top to sit next to the pillow while Kurogane dropped into a chair, grumbling under his breath sulkily. The ninja pulled back the blankets roughly, gritting his teeth angrily, and Fai crawled under them, pushing his hair out of his face which was still damp from his bath.

"Will you tell me a ftowy, Kuwopippi?" Fai asked eagerly.

Kurogane stared at him disbelievingly. "A _story_?"

"Yeah, you know, they begin with 'onfe upon a time' and end with 'and they lived happily evew aftew'."

"I _know_ what a story is, you dumb ass! And why are you asking me? Ask the princess or the brat! I'm sure they know way more stories than I do! Hell, I'll bet even the manjuu could tell you some!"

Fai looked at him pleadingly, taking one of the ninja's fingers in his tiny hand. "But I want _you_, Kuwotan!"

"I don't know any stories!" he snapped.

"Then I gueff _I'll_ have to tell _Kuwowanwan_ a ftowy," Fai grinned. He thought for a moment, and then clapped his hands. "I know a pewfect one! It'f a old ftowy in my countwy but it'll pwobably be new fow Kuwochii."

_Once upon a time, there lived a boy named Kuro chan. The people in his town thought that Kuro chan and his mother were a strange family so they tried to stay away from them for the most part._

_One day, Kuro chan's mother sent him out with a basket full of treats for his sick grandmother. It was his first time traveling through the woods by himself but Kuro chan's mother wasn't worried; Kuro chan was a very good fighter and was perfectly capable of protecting himself. _

_He started down the forest trail but was soon stopped by a dragon who wanted to eat him but Kuro chan took off his sword and easily cut off the dragon's head. The dragon's two friends who were waiting a little ways down the path see what he did to the first dragon and slink quietly away into to woods before he can do the same to them._

"_Yeah! Take that, you bastards! You'd better run!" Kuro chan shouted, brandishing his sword. He began to continue on his way but then turned around, gave the dead dragon a roundhouse kick to the face and then kept going, feeling very proud of himself. No other dragons dared to bother him for the rest of his trip._

_Kuro chan had just reached the heart of the forest when he was spotted by the Big Bad Fai Kitty. The Big Bad Fai Kitty thought that Kuro chan was absolutely adorable so he decided to go talk to him._

"_Hello," said the Fai Kitty._

_Kuro chan blushed. "Uh…h-hi…"_

"_What's your name?"_

"_I-It's Kuro…"_

"_I'm the Big Bad Fai Kitty."_

"_Huh? Big bad…?"_

_Fai Kitty shrugged. "It's just a nickname. So what brings you into the woods on this beautiful day, Kuro chan?"_

"_Um… my mom wanted to bring this stuff to my grandma, so…" he broke off, blushing even more brightly._

"_All by yourself?" Fai Kitty gasped, surprised._

"_Yeah…Um, I gotta go or my grandma's gonna be mad…"_

_Kuro chan started to walk away but looked back over his shoulder at Fai Kitty with an expression of longing on his face. Fai Kitty just smiled. Kuro chan shook his head and continued down the road. Then he looked back again. He had almost made it passed where Fai Kitty couldn't see him anymore but he changed his mind and ran all the way back to where Fai Kitty was._

"_Aww, screw grandma!" he shouted. "…Wanna go make out?"_

"_Of course!" Fai Kitty grinned._

_And they lived happily ever after._

Fai finished his story and looked over at Kurogane, a huge smile on his face. Kurogane was staring at him, his eyes narrowed, an expression of both disgust and embarrassment on his face.

"There's no fucking way that story is one they tell back in your country!" he raged. "You just made that up, didn't you, you little bastard!"

"You think a fouw yeaw old can think up a ftowy like that?" the mage asked innocently.

"Normally no, but since it's you, I'm willing to rethink that!" Kurogane snapped.

Fai giggled, clapping his hands. Kurogane shook his head, sighing heavily.

"Well, I'm going to bed."

He reached over and switched off the lamp next to Fai's bed before getting up from his chair.

"Wait, Kuwomyuu!" Fai said suddenly.

Kurogane looked back at him. The child looked down at his blankets.

"I'm…I'm afwaid of the dawk…could you ftay with me and hold my hand…juft until I fall afleep?"

It was too dark for Fai to make out the ninja's expression but after a brief pause, Kurogane sat down in his chair again and took the little boy's hand in his.

"Fine."

Fai smiled. "Thank you, Kuwochan. Good night."

* * *

Icy fingers moved along his pale, bare skin, their freezing-cold touch sending shivers throughout his body. Frigid lips brushed against his ear, whispering empty words disguised as sweet nothings and weaving a tapestry of deceit and false promises. Despite his frosty aura, Fai leaned against his companion, feeling completely at home in his chilly embrace. The two of them stayed like this for a while before suddenly, without warning, hands plunged into his exposed chest and groped eagerly for his heart. The pain was intense and Fai could barely stand it… but he knew that if he showed any inclination of displeasure, the one holding him would push him roughly away and leave him alone, in the darkness.

The cold hand finally found its target and closed triumphantly around his fragile heart… then it squeezed. Again and again, it crushed his heart, the pain reaching such a pitch that he could no longer contain himself and a small whimper escaped his lips. The squeezing stopped and for a moment, everything was still. Then Fai felt himself sinking in freezing dark water, and try as he might to swim to the surface, his arms refused to obey. But he had to! He couldn't breathe! …His vision was darkening now, his heartbeats slowing…

Fai awoke, an adult once more, shivering violently, his face drenched in sweat and tears. He sat up and took in his surroundings; they were nothing like the frozen landscape of his dream-world. But if all that had been a dream, then why was he so cold? In fact, the only part of him that was warm was… The wizard's eyes moved slowly down his arm and focused on his hand. Someone was holding it… but who? Fai's thoughts were moving sluggishly and he felt confused and dizzy.

Finally, he identified the person holding his hand as Kurogane and suddenly he didn't feel quite as cold anymore. The ninja was warm, had plenty of warmth to share with the slim blond. Fai's hand tightened a little in Kurogane's, reveling in the contact between the two of them. It wasn't until the first tear fell that he even realized that he was crying. His teardrop splashed on the ninja's hand and slowly Kurogane opened his eyes. At first, he seemed as dazed as Fai had been but then his eyes focused on the mage and his confused expression became one of concern.

"What is it?" he whispered, pulling Fai close and allowing him to rest his head against his chest.

"I had a… a bad dream…" Fai stammered, wiping the tears from his face.

"A bad dream, huh?" Kurogane repeated. "About what?"

Fai bit his lip; he remembered what the dream had been about but… he didn't really want to tell the ninja about it.

"I… I don't remember," the blond lied.

Kurogane studied him for a moment, a slight frown on his face. "If you don't want to tell me, you can just say so. You don't have to lie about it," he said finally.

Fai looked up at the swordsman, his eyes wide with surprise and full of tears. Then he looked away; he hated how Kurogane could always tell when he was lying.

"I'm sorry, Kurorin," Fai muttered, bowing his head. "I didn't want you to feel bad so I… I mean, it's nothing personal; I'm just… not ready to talk about it yet."

Kurogane sighed and rested his cheek on Fai's soft, blond hair, pulling him closer.

"Well, when you're ready to talk, I'm ready to listen."

The mage sat there in Kurogane's embrace, still and silent. He really did want to tell the warrior about everything that had happened to him but something held him back. Maybe it was the fact that he knew reliving his story would break his heart completely, revealing to the ninja everything that he was working to conceal. Fai closed his eyes and slid his arms around Kurogane's waist.

As jaded as the warrior seemed, Fai knew that although Kurogane thought he wanted to know the true him, it couldn't be farther from the truth. The real Fai was weak, scarred, worthless, broken, dependant… all the things he knew Kurogane hated about other people. He had already been hurt once by someone he'd loved and he wasn't about to make the same mistake again. His only choice was to keep his real self buried under layers of carefully constructed disguises and hope that the ninja didn't bother taking the time to unmask him. But Kurogane wasn't the type to turn a blind eye to matters that invoked his curiosity and slowly, layer by layer, the warrior was peeling away Fai's fake identity.

"Please Kurosama…" the blond whispered, his voice shaking with suppressed grief, "please stop…"

Kurogane remained silent, waiting for Fai to explain himself.

"Stop trying to uncover who I really am… Y-you wouldn't like my true self at all… so p-please… j-just leave it…"

"You're wrong," the ninja replied quietly. "It's the fake you I can't stand. You obviously don't notice, but there are times when you think no one's watching where you let your real self shine through, and I've seen it. I've only caught a few short glimpses but already I know I like him better than this fake person you're trying to be."

Fai gripped Kurogane's shirt in his shaking fists, his carefully repressed tears threatening to spill over.

The swordsman seemed to know what Fai was thinking and began gently stroking the wizard's hair. "I don't care if he's not perfect. I don't give a damn if he's wimpy and dependant. I'm a goddamn bodyguard; it's my job to protect people. And I'd rather die than let something happen to you."

Tears were flowing freely down his pale cheeks now, hitting Kurogane's shoulder and soaking into his shirt. He wanted more than anything to believe what the ninja was telling him. After all, his words sounded heartfelt. But then, so had Ashura's. His king's name crossing his mind caused a small sob to escape his lips and he felt as though his heart were being wrenched out, sliced open and turned inside out. The pain was nearly equal to what he had felt in his dream.

"I w-want to believe you…" he gasped, "I r-really do… but… I've b-been hurt s-so many times… I'm afraid I've f-forgotten how to t-trust…"

"No one can fix that for you. That's something you'll have to work out on your own," Kurogane said solemnly. "But no matter how long it takes for you to relearn trust, it doesn't matter. I'll be here waiting for you…for eternity, if I have to. So just don't worry about it. Take your time."

Fai clutched at his chest as he felt his heart wrenching painfully again at the ninja's words. Even Ashura, the master of deceit, hadn't been able to make him feel like this; for once in his life, he wasn't so afraid of his imperfections. The strong tan arms that embraced him made him feel as though he would never have to experience cold again.

A relief washed over him; one that was more complete than he could remember ever having experienced in the past. He could feel it like a poison that was being extracted from his body and it left him with exhaustion so overwhelming that he absolutely melted into Kurogane's arms. He could feel his eyelids getting heavier by the second and knew that he would be in a deep sleep within moments. But wait! He couldn't fall asleep now! There was still something that he had to do; something he had to say. Once he said it, it would be ok to sleep. He was so tired that he could hardly move his mouth.

"There's something… I have to tell you…" he began. "It's really important…"

Kurogane's hand moved up from the middle of Fai's back into his golden hair where his fingers intertwined with the gossamer strands.

"I… I…" He stammered. The last of his strength was draining away. "I… love……"

Fai's crystal blue eyes slid shut and his cheek rested warmly on Kurogane's chest. Although Fai had not been able to finish his sentence, Kurogane knew what he had been trying to say and suddenly, all the confusion and uncertainty he had harbored over his feelings for Fai vanished. At last, the answer came to him, and now that he had it, it seemed so blatantly obvious that he wondered why it had taken him so long to figure out. He touched his lips gently to Fai's, and whispered "I love you too."

* * *

**A/N:** And that's all she wrote. I do hope Fai's childspeak wasn't too difficult to understand. I actually went and watched some tapes of when my siblings were little in order to refresh my memory on how little kids talk, but I didn't end up using the knowledge much as it only would have made it even harder to understand. By the way, Takeshi, the little kid Fai and Kuro met at the park is Yamazaki (Takeshi was his first name, if you remember) from CCS, although there wasn't much of a chance for me to elaborate on his character. I love you all for your lovely reviews and much-appreciated feedback! See y'all later! 


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